


100 Theme Challenge

by RomaMarufixx



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Blow Jobs, Coming Out, F/M, First Time, First Times, Hand Jobs, M/M, Sexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2019-07-17 21:48:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 32
Words: 35,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16104494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomaMarufixx/pseuds/RomaMarufixx
Summary: A 100 Theme Challenge I made for myself, focusing on the 2012 TMNT relationships Casey/Raph, Karai/Leo and Donnie/April. Primarily Casey/Raph, with a slow start. Enjoy!





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This 100 Theme Challenge is one I made from various ones and other word prompts. (Spoilers!) This is a bit out of sync with the actual series, Master Splinter is alive, Karai’s mutation is rarely used/mentioned, they haven’t met Mona Lisa or gone into space, some characters I have changed or added and a lot of other things haven’t happened...this is basically just me wanting to write something out of my usual and doing it how I want to! Some chapters will be drabble length and some will be longer and possibly much longer. I hope you enjoy!

1\. Introduction

 

He’d seen plenty of mutants but this one...this one was something else. A giant turtle, but like a perfectly formed mutant turtle, not with any extra arms and legs and random things growing out of places that they shouldn’t. He was just...a turtle, but larger, standing on two feet and talking. Casey would have been in awe if the turtle hadn’t tried to ruin his beat down party by telling him he was letting his anger get the better of him.

They’d fought and damn Casey didn’t think he was going to win against this mutant, but he’d got the upper hand and managed to get away. He’d spent that night nursing his injuries, and there were quite a few. He’d also taken out his old sketchbook to draw and make notes about the new mutant that he’d had a run in with.  

The next time Casey saw the mutant turtle, he was storming around, muttering things to himself and Casey followed him, hoping for a rematch but instead was lead to what must be the turtle’s home. He found that the turtle he fought was not the only one, there were three others with him. He’d learnt their names, Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo as well as their giant rat Sensei, Splinter and April was friends with all of them. 

Raphael had been the one to fight him and the one he had followed back to their home, it was good to put a name to the face that had beaten his. 

With just his luck, Casey had been followed into the sewers by things he assumed were known by the turtles and were apparently going to bring others if their location got out, so he and Raphael had chased after the one that had got out of the lair and together they had taken the intruder down. 

Who Casey first thought was his enemy, now turned out to be an ally and someone who he’d consider his best friend and eventually...even more than that. 

 

-

 

The kid’s getup would have made him laugh if he wasn’t so pissed. Hockey sticks, bats and other ‘weapons’ were piled onto his back, tattered clothing and a mask as well as face paint? This boy was crazy and was out looking for trouble with a temper almost as bad as his own and Raph knew that he had to stop him before he got himself or others hurt. 

They’d ended up beating the shell out of each other and Raph had to admit that the kid was good, so good he’d almost taken Raph down and then later had followed him back to the lair without the red banded turtle noticing. Another human who knew about their existence, but he was a friends of April’s and she trusted him not to tell about her unusual friends. But he’d also led some of their enemies to their lair and almost had their home location broadcast. Together he and the new guy, Casey, had managed to stop and take him down together. They worked quite well together and Raph was happy to have another spirit like his own to fight alongside.

Casey Jones was Raphael’s best and closest friend, but if you ever asked him if he thought he and Casey would be anything more than just best friends, he would have given you the wrong answer. 

 

-

 

Karai was beautiful, Leo thought that the second that he saw her, and she’d looked at him with interest and curiosity, not the horror or fear that most humans showed before running away screaming even after they had saved their lives. He’d always teased his brother for his crush on April from the second that he saw her, but now he could kind of understand where he was coming from. 

Of course he knew she was the enemy and later would find out she was the Shredder’s daughter but that didn’t diminish his feelings for her, it only made him want to help her, to bring her over to their side and away from the Shredder’s grasp, but that was much harder to do than Leo first thought. 

Leo never gave up on Karai, he helped her escape the Shredder’s evil hold and helped her understand the truth about her past and that his father, Master Splinter...Hamato Yoshi, was also her father. Of course that had messed with Leo slightly, yes there weren’t related by blood, but Karai was still his sister and he still had deep feelings for her. 

He and Karai had been through so much together, Leo couldn’t see himself living in a world without her, but he didn’t think Karai felt the same way.

 

-

 

Karai would be lying if she said that she hadn’t thought Leo was cute from the very beginning, of course he was a mutant and a turtle, but he was interesting, he had an innocence about him that Karai liked, that part of her wanted to change, to tempt over to her side, but she couldn’t, he was devoted to his clan, to his family and Karai respected that, after all she’d been loyal to her father after everything that he had done. 

Things changed between them over time, the two becoming closer after she finally believed Leo about her true parentage and that the Shredder had been lying to her all her life. Of course things from that point on in her life were rocky, Shredder had held her prisoner and then used her as bait to lure the turtles out which had led to her mutation. 

She’d almost lost her humanity, but Leo wouldn’t let that happen, wouldn’t give until she was happy, healthy and safe. Leo would do anything for her, she knew that, she also knew that the leader of the turtle clan was in love with her, but she’s spent her whole life using emotions are a manipulative tool and didn’t want to do that with Leo. All she needed to do was keep him close but avoid getting any closer.

 

-   
  


April was one of the first real life humans Donnie had ever seen and she was definitely the most beautiful, one look in her direction had caused his brain to stop working and his heart to almost beat out of his chest. His emotions had been spoken out loud and his brothers had teased him and he hadn’t cared until he jumped down to rescue the girl when she was in peril...and she’d screamed at him, frightened by his appearance. Donnie knew his appearance must be a shock to a human...but it still hurt and took a deep dig at his ego.

He’d done everything that he could to rescue his crush from the clutches of their kidnappers and April O’Neil had become a close friend and ally of Donnie and his brothers. Donnie’s feelings for April never wavered and sometimes he went too far with his affections and April would get uncomfortable, so he would back off, only to go back to going over the top. 

When Casey came into their lives and showed interest in April, Donnie saw red, there was no hiding his jealousy, even more so when Donnie and Casey got to know each other and were fighting for April’s affections. But then, a truth about Casey came out and he was no longer a rival for April’s love, the only thing now for Donnie to do was tone down his behaviour and to show April he was serious about his feelings for her.

 

-

 

April regretted the way she had reacted to Donnie the first time that she’d seen him. She’d always been one of those people to never judge a book by it’s cover and got to know people before making any assumptions about them, but this apparently hadn’t applied to Donnie, but in her defence he was a giant mutant turtle and he had shocked her. She knew he was only trying to help her but she was panicking too much to care about much else. 

Freaking out had probably caused her to get kidnapped, instead of being saved by the mutant, but Donnie had tracked her down and rescued her and they had become friends, she also became friends with his three brothers and their mutant rat sensei and father. Over time they had not just become her friends, but her family.  

When Casey came into their lives, he had become a kindred spirit for Raphael but an arch rival for Donnie, the two constantly fighting over April and she hated it. She liked both of them but their over the top affections were getting on her nerves and she even gave in a few times to Casey and went on a few dates with him. One of these dates led to a not so surprising truth that Casey confessed to and now, when she thought Donnie would be all over her...he wasn’t...and April was almost missing all of the affection and attention. Maybe it was her time to give Donnie her time, attention and affection. 


	2. Date

2\. Date 

 

April had agreed yet again to go out on a date with Casey and yet again, Irma had tagged along, sitting by the side of the two looking very bored as she third wheeled. As much as April didn’t really care much about dating, it did frustrate her that Casey would always ask Irma to come along and then act like she was a pain for tagging along. Maybe Casey believed that April thought Irma invited herself along, but she knew it was all Casey. 

“See ya’ later Irma!” Casey waved at their friend as they walked in opposite directions. “I thought she would never leave.” He said and placed an arm around April’s shoulder’s only for it to be shrugged off. 

“You okay April?”

“Casey...do you like me?” She asked, a sad and tired expression on her face. 

“Of course Red.” Casey replied, confused. 

“Then why do you always ask Irma to come along with us on our ‘dates’?” 

“I don’t, she just invites herself-” Casey began to say but was interrupted. 

“Irma’s told me that you invite her Casey, don’t lie to me.” She said and Casey’s cocky expression disappeared. “You’re obviously uncomfortable with the idea of actually going on a date with me...so why do you flirt with me and ask me out all the time?”

Casey didn’t get a chance to say anything else as April asked a question that had him stunned into silence, something that had been on her mind for quite a while now.

“Casey...are you gay?”

“Wha...what? What makes you think that?” Casey spluttered, April’s question taking him completely off guard. 

“It’s mostly just a guess...you clearly don’t like me the way that you come across you do, all this flirting and seduction...you don’t mean any of it, otherwise we’d be further on than just going on third-wheeled dates.” April said and Casey looked to the side uncomfortably. 

“Casey it’s nothing to be ashamed of...I’m just tired of being messed around.” April said and waited for Casey to respond.

“I thought maybe if I forced myself into a relationship with a girl, I would become attracted to her...I mean you’re awesome red, you’re pretty and smart and super fun to be around but…”

“But I’m not a guy.”

“No…”

“Casey…” April took ahold of her friends hand. “You know you can talk to me about anything, you don’t have to keep secrets from me.” She said, giving him a reassuring smile.

“Thanks April.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“No.” 

“Not even Raph?” April asked, surprised Casey hadn’t confided in his best friend. 

“No...and you can’t tell him.” Casey said, a serious look on his face.

“I won’t tell anyone Casey, it’s not my place to tell, but Raph wouldn’t judge you,” April said and laughed, “he’s a giant mutant ninja turtle.”

“I don’t know how Raph will react April...I don’t want to lose my best friend. I’ve been keeping this a secret for a long time, I can keep it even longer.” Casey said, making April sigh, she knew that she was not going to change his mind. 

“Okay...I’ll see you tomorrow?” April asked. 

“Wouldn’t miss the turtle’s sweet sixteen birthday party.” Casey winked as he walked away from her backwards, giving her finger guns and making her laugh. As soon as April turned around, Casey’s smile dropped, if April knew his secret, it was only a matter of time until he would have to come clean to the others...he just hoped they were as accepting as April. 


	3. Rumours

3\. Rumours

 

Casey hated Mondays, he hated going to school, hating being around all the boring people, he’d much rather be down in the sewers with the turtles, doing anything, even just watching tv with the guys was better than talking to some of the kids in his classes. Lunch was fine, he could hang out with April and Irma, but they didn’t share any of the same classes so the rest of the day was a drag.  

Just before lunch, he’d been walking through the hallway to his next class when he heard a couple of girls giggling and whispering lowly, but Casey heard what they were saying. 

“He’s totally gay, Freddy told me.”

“How does Freddy know?”

“Casey’s friend told him.” That grabbed Casey’s full attention. He didn’t know who this Freddy kid was but someone, a friend of his, had told him that he was gay. The only ‘friend’ Casey had told was April.

The girls noticed Casey standing on the other side of the hallway and giggled before moving off to their class and Casey stormed into his classroom, sitting at the very back of the class and watched as the class filled up, every single one of his classmates looking at him before taking their seat. 

For the whole hour it felt like there were always eyes on him, of course they looked away when he would look back at them or when he would catch people whispering or giggling they would stop when they noticed him giving them daggers. 

As soon as class was over and lunch started, he raced over to the place where he, April and Irma usually spent their lunch. He didn’t even say one word to Irma before grabbing April by the hand and dragging her off where no one could see or hear them. 

“Casey, what the hell?”

“Who did you tell?”

“Who did I tell about what?” April said, raising her voice as Casey was doing to her. 

“Who did you tell about me being gay?” Casey said, his voice dropping down to a whisper as his eyes scanned around them to make sure there was nobody watching or listening. 

“No-one, I would never tell anyone something you didn’t want me too, I wouldn’t do that to you, how could you possibly think that I could?” April shouted back, trying to keep her voice low but she was very upset and anger of what Casey was accusing her of. 

“I heard some girls telling each other that I told a ‘friend’ of mine about me being gay...who else could it be?”

“Are you sure they were talking about you?” 

“Do you know any other Casey’s at this school?” Casey argued back and April sighed. 

“I promise you Casey, I haven’t told anyone...I have no idea how anyone found out.”

“I feel like everyone is staring at me...judging me.”

“Maybe you’re just being paranoid, you’ve been on edge since you told me the other night, even Raph noticed something was up,” Casey glared at April who quickly added, “but don’t worry I didn’t tell him anything.”

“...Well I guess my secret’s out then.”

“Does this mean you’ll tell the guys?”

“...I don’t know April.”

“Maybe start off by just telling one of them? It will be a huge weight off your chest not having to hide this anymore.” April said, placing a hand on her friends shoulder. Casey smiled at her and pulled her in for a hug. 

"Thanks April.”

“I’m always here for you Casey.” April said as they parted from their hug. 

“I still really wanna know how the hell people found out, do you know a guy called Freddy?” Casey asked. 

“Never heard of him.” April shrugged.

“Well, if I ever see him, or you know, find out who he is...he’s toast for outing me.” Casey said. “Now, lunch? I’m starving!” Casey cried out, holding his stomach as he walked away, April following him, laughing. 


	4. Sexuality

4\. Sexuality 

 

April stood just outside Donnie's lab, nervously looking in at the turtle who was surrounded by jars of various coloured liquids and wondering if now was the right time to talk to him. Of course April knew that Donnie would drop everything in a heartbeat to help April, she’d used this to her advantage several times, it was nice to have someone always there for her.

“Donnie? Are you busy?”

“Hm? Oh, no, come in!” Donnie said as he pushed his experiment to one side so he could focus on the redhead. “What’s up?”

“I want to talk to you about something...but it’s kind of a touchy subject.” 

“Okay…” Donnie said, dragging out the word and then waiting for April to continue speaking.

“Someone has recently come out to me...as gay and then they were outed at school and we don’t know who it was but know this person is worried about having to come out to his family and friends.”

“Wouldn’t this person’s friends already know?”

“They’re friends that don’t go to our school.” April clarified. 

“Do they know any members of their family and friends to be homophobic? Is that why they’re afraid to tell them?” Donnie asked. 

“I don’t think something like this has ever come up so he doesn’t know how they will react, I guess he’s just worried they will react bad and they won’t want to be his friends anymore.”

“Well I promise you I wouldn’t stop being friends with Casey just because he’s gay April.”

“What?”

“It is Casey we’re talking about right?” Donnie asked and April went into a small panic. 

“You can’t tell him that you know! I promised him that I wouldn’t tell anyone!” She said, reaching out to hold Donnie by the shoulders. 

“Don’t worry April, I won’t say anything to him.” Donnie said, holding up his hands in defense. 

“Thank you.” April said and after a few seconds she realised she was still holding holding the tall turtles shoulder, so pulled away quickly with a nervous laugh. 

“Wow…” Donnie murmured to himself. “I would have never thought Casey would be into guys...I thought he had a thing for you.”

“I thought he did, which I confronted him about...apparently he was trying to force himself to like a girl...to force himself to be straight.” April said and watched as Donnie seemed to be deep in thought. “He hasn’t told anyone aside from me, not even Raph...he’s worried about how you guys will react and doesn’t want to lose you as friends.”

“I doubt my brothers would want to lose Casey as a friend just because he’s into guys.” Donnie said, coming out of his thoughts. 

“I hope so…” April said as her eyes roamed Donnie’s shoulders and neck. “I really hope your brothers are as open as you are.” 

“Well..I’ve done some thinking on the topic of...sexual orientation.” Donnie said, slightly embarrassed. April’s head snapped from where she was staring to the turtle’s face, surprised.

“Really?” April asked and the look on her face made Donnie blush. 

“Well as a mutant turtle, I don’t think it’s wise to limit myself to just...one group of people.” Donnie laughed. “But seriously...there have been a few men to catch my eye...I’ve never mentioned it to my brothers or anyone else because I get teased enough about having crushes.”

April barely listened to the second half of the sentence. She thought she was the only person that he’d had a crush on, but now there were others? It causes an ugly jealousy to stir up inside her that she hadn’t felt before...was this the reason why Donnie wasn’t as over the top and constant with his affections recently? Did he even still have a crush on her?

“April?” Donnie called out when she hadn’t spoken in a few minutes.

“Hm? Sorry, I...wow.” Is all April could say in reply and Donnie blushed.

“I know Leo and Mikey are both attracted to women...I don’t know much about Raph, but we never really talk about things like this.” Donnie said and shrugged. He didn’t have to give a reason why, April knew. The Hamato brothers were mutant turtles, growing up Master Splinter probably thought that they needn’t any lessons in sex and relationships as the chances of them meeting anyone were slim to none.

And here April was, manipulating the tall turtle’s feelings. 

“At least Casey will have someone to talk to, someone that understands him.” April smiled and received a warm smile back, making her heart beat a little faster. Oh, this wasn’t good. 


	5. Coming Out

5\. Coming Out 

 

Casey had never felt so nervous in his life, standing in front of the door that belonged to his best friend’s bedroom. There was no-one in the Hamato household that Casey Jones wanted to tell his secret to than Raph, he was also the one whose opinion would matter the most to the teenage vigilante. 

Very slowly he knocked on the door, loud enough for Raph to hear, but not too loud to draw attention that he was at Raphael’s door.

“What?” Raph called out and Casey let himself in, closing the door behind him and watched as a surprised look crossed Raph’s face, clearly not expecting Casey to be the one at his door. “‘Sup Case, everything alright?” Raph asked from his place perched on his bed. 

“Uh, yeah, I just wanted to talk to you about something.” Casey said and he knew Raph could see and hear how nervous he was, there was a very worried look in those green eyes.

“Are you sure everything’s okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Casey said, more to himself than Raph as he took a seat next to the turtle. “Um, the other day April asked me a question...about myself and I told her the answer and then it got spread around my school by some jerks and now I think it’s time to come clean to you guys.” 

“Okay…” Raph replied, not knowing what to say and thinking it best to let Casey continue with what he wanted to say. 

“And I hope that when I tell you, you won’t think of me any different.” 

“Yeah, ‘course.” 

“Okay.” Casey said and took a deep breath. “I’m gay.” 

“...Is that it?” Raph asked and Casey glared at his friend. 

“What do ya’ mean is that it!?”

“Jeez Case, the way you were building that up, I thought you’d done something seriously warped, but it’s just that you’re into guys? That’s cool.” Raph shrugged and jumped slightly when Casey wrapped his arms around him and have him a hug. 

“Thanks man, that means a lot coming from you.” Casey said and Raph returned the hug, feeling slightly awkward as he did so, he and Casey weren’t usually the hugging type. 

“No problem man.”

“I was freaking out so much that this was gonna go bad.” Casey laughed as he pulled away from the hug. 

“What did ya’ think that I was gonna call ya’ disgusting and never want to be your friend again?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Well ya’ ain’t gotta worry about that Case...so does anyone else know apart from April?”

“No, I wanted to see how you reacted before I told anyone else.”

“So when are you going to tell the others?” Raph questioned. 

“In a minute maybe? They’re all here.” Casey said, shrugging. Raph stood up from the bed and Casey looked up at him. 

“Let’s do it then.” Raph said, smiling down at his best friend. “I promise, they ain’t gonna react badly, if they do, they’ll have to deal with me.”

“Thanks Raph.” Casey said as he stood up and wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulder as they exited the room. 

 

-

 

The Hamato clan were all gathered around in the seating area of their home, Mikey, Raph, Donnie and Leo all sat in front of Casey who was waiting for April, Karai and Master Splinter to come out of the dojo so he could say what he wanted to say. 

As soon as the three stepped out of the dojo and made a move towards where the others were sitting, Mikey’s eyes went wide and focused solely on Casey.

“Come on then dude, we’re all here, what’s up?”

“Well, I’ve got something kinda big that I wanna tell you guys...” Casey said and the others waited to see what Casey had to say next. Suddenly the human teenager felt very nervous, this was much easier to do one to one, with this many eyes on him, watching him...Casey had the urge to run.  

However, when Casey looked over at Raph and the mutant turtle gave him a big bright smile, he felt confidence soar inside him.

“Well...April and Raph already know, but I thought it was time to tell the rest of you.” Casey said, looking around at everyone and Donnie winked at him, causing Casey to look at the redhead suspiciously, but she avoided his eyes. 

“Uh...I’m gay...and I was hoping that nothing would change, I’m still me I just-” Casey stopped talking when a furry hand came down on his shoulder. Damn, when did Master Splinter move?

“Casey, you are part of our family and no matter who you choose to love, you will always be a part of it.” The old rat said as he gave the teenager a genuine smile.

“Thanks Master Splinter.” 

The rest of the clan’s words echoed their sensei’s, love and acceptance was all around and Casey cursed himself for even thinking that his friends, his family, would ever treat him any differently. 

Mikey had captured Casey into a hug, dragging Leo into it, Karai had teased Casey, stating that even her kiss couldn’t bring him slightly over to her side, that had caused a jealous and shocked look to show on the blue banded turtle’s face, and Donnie had made it very clear that Casey could talk to him about anything, and then winked at him. He would definitely be having a talk with April later. 

Of course there was still his biological family that he had to tell...but they could wait. He knew that their reactions would not be the same as this, but even if things went badly and worse came to worse and he found himself without a home, he knew that the turtles would take him in. Okay, he would be living in the sewers, but he spent enough time down here already and the company was great. 

A massive weight had been lifted off of him and he could only see things going up from here. 


	6. Insomnia

6\. Insomnia

 

Casey was gay. That was all that Raph could think about. Of course Raph didn’t think any less of his best friend and would never treat him any differently, he just liked guys instead of girls like Raph had thought. It was also starting to make Raph think more about himself.

Raph had never really given it much thought of whether or not he was into guys or girls or even humans for that matter, he didn’t think he would ever get the chance to be with anyone, given his looks and the way people reacted to them, so why bother?

His brothers were obviously attracted to human women, Donnie with his crush on April, Leo with Karai and even Mikey had found Renet attractive, but Raph...he hadn’t found anyone to be attractive, human or not.

Of course in an ideal world, Raph would be able to find someone that he could spend his life with and not have to spend it alone in the sewers. April and Casey would eventually find a partner and they would see less of them and his brothers had a better chance finding someone than he did.

Maybe April would choose Donnie, now that Casey wasn’t an option, at least then he would still have one of his human friends around.

Raph had never been so confused, he’d always thought if he was ever going to fall for anyone, have a partner or whatever it would be a human woman who saw through his looks and to the person inside. But because of Casey’s coming out, he realised...women weren’t his only option.

That still didn’t change the fact that Raph would have search out someone if he wanted a partner, all the people that came into their lives were either uninterested in Raph or the other way around or they gravitate towards one of his brothers.

Raph had never had these sorts of feelings come up to the surface before Casey came out to him and now he couldn’t stop them.

Turning to his side, Raph closed his eyes but it was no use, he couldn’t stop thinking.

It was going to be a long night.  

 


	7. Dark

7\. Dark

 

It was meant to be a normal patrol, but Raph and Casey had gotten themselves into something that they weren’t sure they were going to get out of. They had followed a bunch of purple dragons into an old building, only to find out that they were being lured into a trap and they proceeded to blow the building up.

Raph had managed to grab Casey and lead him into a barricaded room, in hopes it would help them survive the blast, and it did, but now the two were buried in the room, no light, no current way out and covered in debris.

“I knew this was a bad idea.” Raph muttered as he pushed something very heavy off of his legs.

“Dude, I can’t see anything!” Casey said, coughing from the dust that was in the air.

“Casey, are you okay?” Raph called out to his friend, who seemed to be on the other side of the collapsed room, he didn’t think the room was that big, unless they were in more than one room now, who could tell.  

“Yeah...I think so.” Casey muttered and Raph could hear him moving around, moving things off him and Raph knew that Casey may actually be hurt and not want to seem weak, Raph had to remind himself to take Casey straight to Donnie when they got out of here.

“You trapped?” Raph asked as he began moving debris off himself, freeing himself and standing up, trying to look through the darkness for his friend.

“I...I think so.” Casey said.

“Keep talking, I’ll find you and help you out.” Raph said as he began moving forward.

“Can’t believe they tricked us in here, didn’t think they would be smart enough to do something like this...when I see them I swear they’re gonna regret it.” Casey ranted.

“Don’t worry man, they will.” Raph said, right by Casey’s side, although he still couldn’t see him.

“Yeah if we get outta here, have you got your shell cell? I can’t find mine anywhere.” Casey said as he felt debris move off him.

“If I did, don’t ya’ think I would be using the flashlight instead of walking around in the dark?” Raph said and Casey rolled his eyes and winced as another piece of debris came off him, scraping against his skin.

“Yeah alright.” Casey said, hissing as more of his skin was scraped away by concrete and metal. “Dammit Raph, ya’ wanna leave some of my skin on at least?”

“Sorry Casey, it’s kinda hard to see in her! Would you rather me leave you under all this?” Raph shouted, growing irritated with his friend.

“Alright, alright!” Casey said and bit his lip to stop himself from vocalising his displeasure and pain as Raph freed him from all the rubble he was stuck under. Occasionally Raph’s hand would brush against his skin and his clothing to make sure that he got all of the concrete off of Casey, which caused an unfamiliar feeling to stir in Casey’s gut.

“There, I think I got all of it...can you move?” Raph asked and Casey slowly sat up and moved his arms and legs, testing out his joints, fingers and toes.

“Yeah, I think I’m okay, I ache like hell and my back hurts.”

“When we get out of here we can make sure that you are okay, Donnie can give ya’ a look over.”

“Okay.” Casey said as he and Raph sat in almost silence for a few minutes before he grew impatient. “So...how exactly are we going to get out?”

“I’m trying to find somewhere I can dig outta.” Raph said, his voice coming much farther away than expected, Casey had assumed his friend was still sitting by him.

“When the hell did you move?” Casey said as he stood up and immediately stood on what sounded like his cell. “Shit!”

“What?”

“I stood on my cell.” Casey moaned and he could almost feel Raph roll his eyes.

“Well done, that could have been a way to contact the others and get us out of here.”

“Dude, I’m sorry how was I supposed to see it? I ain’t crawling around on my hands and knees.”

“No, Case, it’s fine...I...I ain’t too good in small spaces, I guess I’m just freaking out a bit.”

“It’s okay bro’ I’m sure the guys will be able to track us through your shell cell, they’ll be with us before you know it.” Casey said, trying to calm the turtle.

“Yeah, hopefully.” Raph said and he made his way back to where Casey was.

“My dad’s gonna kill me when he finds out I’ve broke another phone.”

“Maybe if ya’ weren’t such a klutz you wouldn’t have broken them all.” Raph said and sighed.

“You doing okay Raph?”

“I just didn’t think this was how the night was gonna go, thought we’d beat up some purple dragons, stop a robbery or something, not get stuck in a stupid building...it’s really not keeping my mind off things.”

“What things man?”

“Um, nothing...it don’t matter.”

“No come on, you know you can tell me anything, no judgement.” Casey said, he’d trust his best friend with anything and hoped Raph felt the same way.

“I’ve just...since you came out to me it got me thinking.”

“About?”

“About who I like, I ain’t never thought about it before, all my brothers have had crushes on girls but I never had.”

“Any guys?”

“No, nobody, like I said, I ain’t never thought about it before and no offence to my bros, not much is happening with their crushes, I doubt anything ever will.”

“You can’t say that bro, April is totally starting to see Donnie as a potential boyfriend, Karai totally has the hots for Leo but just don’t wanna admit it and as for Mikey...who does Mikey have a crush on again?”

“Renet.”

“Yeah, her, well Mikey doesn’t give up easily if he wants something.”

“I guess.”

“There’s something out there for everyone man, even for giant turtle mutants.” Casey said and for a second Raph looked up at him, deep emotion in those stunning green eyes.

“I hope so.”

“Raph? Casey?” A familiar voice sounded from somewhere to their right.

“Leo? We’re in here!” Raph responded, moving slowly to where he had heard his brother’s voice.

“Stand back! We’re going to get you out of there.” A different voice, Donnie, said and Raph did what he was told.

It didn’t take much time before a hole appeared, letting a small amount of light into the dark space that the two had been trapped in. Donnie and Leo stepped in and located Raph and Casey.

“Are you guys okay?” The leader asked.

“We’ll be better once we get out of this place, did ya’ get the purple dragons?” Raph asked.

“No, there were nowhere in sight.”

“Cowards.” Casey mumbled as he passed the turtles and stepped outside to get a breath of air that wasn’t filled with dust. “Oh that’s better.”  Leo, Donnie and Raph soon joined Casey on the outside, glancing around at the area and noting how much damage had been done.

“Where are the cops?” Raph asked.

“Probably at one of the several other buildings that the purple dragons blew up.” Donnie answered. “They blew up a building at each location we were watching, no doubt we were the targets.”

“Anybody hurt?” Casey asked.

“We’re all fine and all the buildings that they targeted were empty and abandoned, no civilians hurt.” Leo answered Casey’s question.

“Casey injured his back, we should probably go back the lair to check it out...where are the others?”

“I’ve just let them know we’ve found you, they’re heading back to the lair now, we can meet them there.” Donnie explained.

“Good, let’s go.” Raph said and the three made their way back to the turtle’s lair, the meet with the others and to make sure that Casey was all okay before sending him back home.


	8. Love

8\. Love

 

The night was a quiet one, and boring to Casey Jones and Raphael, who liked nothing more than to spend their evening beating up low lifes and thugs together. They’d been standing on their current rooftop for nearly an hour with no sign of any life, so they’d decided to sit on the edge of the roof and just watch the people on the streets.

“Never known a night to be this quiet.” Casey commented.

“Yeah especially after the other night.”

“Maybe they think they got us?” Casey asked.

“Doubt it, they ain’t too smart but if they wanted to make sure we were dead they would have come looking for our bodies. They probably just wanted to put us out of the fight, so they could get away with whatever the next trick up their sleeve is.”

“Well it takes a lot more than a building collapsing on him to keep Casey Jones out of the fight.” Casey grinned and struck a pose.

“Unfortunately.” Raph said and received a playful hit on his shoulder. “How’s ya’ back?” Raph asked.

“Pretty good, slept like a log all night and woke up great, guess all I needed was some good sleep.”

“Guess ya’ head and ya’ back have something in common, they’re both thick.” Raph teased and Casey scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“You’re so mean to me man.”

Raph’s laugh was interrupted by his shell cell’s text alert.

“It’s Leo.” Raph said as he opened the message.

“What’s he say?”

“He’s calling it a night, he wants me back at the lair.” Raph said as he put his cell back into his belt.

“Alright.” Casey said as he stood up. “D’ya think Leo will want to patrol tomorrow or is he gonna call it a miss?”

“Dunno, I’ll ask him when I get back and let you know.”

“Cool man, see ya’ later.” Casey said as he headed in the direction in his home and Raph down towards the sewers to his.

 

-

 

_Leo’s not making us go on patrol tomorrow, guess you got a night to yourself - Raph_

 

_Damn! Hoping 4 some action, dad’s @ work & sis is at babysitters, really will be a night to myself - Casey _

 

_Can still do something if you want - Raph_

 

_Like what? - Casey_

 

Raph sat on his bed, staring at his phone, trying to think of an idea so that he could spend time with Casey.

 

_Come round mine? - Raph_

 

_Sounds good man, see ya then - Casey_

 

Casey couldn’t help but grin as he sent his message to Raph, he had felt sad when Raph had told him that patrol tomorrow night wouldn’t be happening, but was now going to spend another night with his best friend.

It felt a sudden wave of realisation washed over him, the way that he felt when Raph looked at him, talked to him, the stupid grin that would appear on his face whenever Raph called or texted him. Was he in love with his mutant turtle best friend?

 

_Maybe ya can keep me from killing Mikey - Raph_

 

_What’s he done now? - Casey_

 

The teenager continued to grin at his phone as Raph sent him text after text about a prank Mikey had pulled on him, almost the moment he had walked into their home, covering him head to toe in pink paint, man Casey wished he had seen that. Apparently whilst chasing his brother around the lair he had spread pink paint around and after cleaning himself he had to clean the paint that he had dragged everywhere. Apparently Master Splinter was furious with both Raph and Mikey.

Despite the fact Casey had to be up early in the morning, he found himself unable to put his phone down, he and Raph went from talking about the prank that Mikey had pulled on him, to a new television show that Raph thought Casey would like and their conversation just flowed into different ones until Casey ended the conversation by falling asleep.

When he woke up in the morning, their conversation continued and did so during the rest of the day until Casey was round the turtle’s home and could speak to his friend face to face, which further confirmed the fact he was in love with Raphael...and he had no idea what to do about it.


	9. Animal

9\. Animal

 

From her position in the main room, April could see into Donnie’s lab and watched as he walked around, muttering to himself about chemicals and some other words that she didn’t quite understand.

April would smile occasionally at something Donnie would do that was so uniquely him, like when he paused to think and the tip of his tongue pointed out of the side of his mouth. April would be lying if she said she didn’t think that was cute.

Sometimes Donnie would feel eyes on him and look over to where April was sitting and smile at her, receiving a smile back from the young redhead, although he never stopped what he was doing, never came out to see her, like he would usually if April was all on her own and _clearly_ wanting attention from the tall turtle.

It took everything in her to hold herself back from acting the way Donnie used to, she didn’t want to be hovering over him all the time and constantly spending time with him, suffocating him with her affections.

With Donnie too engrossed in his work to come out and spend time with April, she spent her time studying the turtle. There had been something itching at her brain, something that hadn’t bothered her at all in all the time that she had known the turtles, until she started seeing one in a more intimate light.

Donnie was a turtle, an animal, his mutation had changed him so he was different from nature’s own but wasn’t very human. He had no ears or nose, at least not ones that could be seen, his skin was green and leathery to the touch, he had three fingers and toes and a shell!  

Some of April’s more erotic dreams had lead to some confusion as to where Donnie’s genitals were and how they looked and worked. Would he have the same genitalia as a normal turtle? April wasn’t even sure that Donnie and his brothers had tails, she had never seen them and if he was the same as a normal turtle...he was going to be huge and that frightened her slightly.

She couldn’t just go up to Donnie or one of his brothers and ask them about something so intimate, so she would have to keep guessing.

Donnie being an animal still bothered her slightly and she didn’t have anyone to talk to about that, she didn’t want to offend her friends, so turned to someone who might understand and be able to help her.

 

-

 

“Karai, are you busy?” April asked as she looked at the girl sat on the floor in lotus position.

“Not anymore.” Karai sighed as she exhaled and slowly opened her eyes to look up at the redhead. “What do you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something.” April stated as she walked into Karai’s room and closed the door.

“Okay, what is it?” Karai asked as she stood up, stretching as she did so.

“Does that fact that Leo and the others are animals freak you out slightly?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, does it bother you that the person you’re into is an animal?”

“Why would it?” Karai smirked, raising a brow and April gave her a worried look. “Listen, yes the guys are turtles, animals, whatever, but they are half human, like me...apart from I look human instead of like a snake, most of the time...it’s just the other way round for the guys.”

“I guess…”

“They’re human in every other way but their bodies April, if we’re disgusting for being attracted to that, so be it...I don’t care and neither should you.”

“I know that…” April said, although she still didn’t feel any better.

“April.” Karai said, resting a hand on her friends shoulder, a gentle smile on her face but a wicked gleam in her eyes. “If you’re worried about what their ‘male’ parts are like…” she began and April’s face turned pink. “I have been told they are very human like.”

“What? How do you...who told you…?” April began to stutter as Karai laughed at her.

“I was curious about their tails, so I asked Donnie who told me that they did have tails but they keep them hidden most of the time so that they don’t get hurt and when I asked if that was were they kept their penises...he got very embarrassed and told me no, the human side of their mutation had changed that to a more human like penis, I’m assuming around the crotch area because he walked away after that.”

“I can’t believe you asked him that!”

“I wanted to know and he seemed like the best person to talk to.” Karai shrugged.

“Oh my god, poor Donnie.”

“I’m sure he’s over it already, so...does that make you feel any better?” Karai asked.

“Well, a bit, but-”

“Good...trust me April, you shouldn’t let stupid things get in the way of your feelings, and if this is something that is really, really bothering you maybe you should talk to Donnie about it?”

“Donnie doesn’t even know that I...return his feelings.”

“Well then maybe start with that first, the two of you need to be more open with each other.”

“What like you and Leo?” April countered and Karai glared at the redhead.

“Me and Leo are none of your business.” Karai replied, becoming defensive.

“Sorry...maybe I should talk to Donnie.”

“Yeah, you should.” Karai replied, returning to her position on the floor to continue meditating.

“Thanks Karai.” April said as she left the room to think more about what Karai had said and whether or not she should talk to the purple banded ninja.


	10. Confused

10\. Confused

 

Karai watched Leo walk across the main room to sit down in front of the television set. Her eyes scanned his green skin, his three fingers and toes, the lack of external ears and nose, his hard shell and front. She could understand April’s problems with being attracted to someone that wasn’t human, someone that was technically an animal, but Karai had reptilian blood in her now.

She didn’t think that was why she was attracted to Leo, she had found him cute before, when she was fully human, Karai was never one to scare easily, where others ran away screaming from a giant mutant turtle, Karai was drawn to him, intrigued and attracted and he clearly felt the same way.  

The problem was Karai was taught from a young age that emotions were a weakness, which was laughable coming from the Shredder, the man who let anger and jealousy rule his life. Karai had never felt as vulnerable as she did when she was with Leo, she’d never given into her emotions so much.

The love she felt for Leo was different to the love she had felt before, her only experience with love was what she had shared with her adoptive father, which was more manipulative than anything else. She’d had crushes on people before, but she never acted on any of them, apart from one, but he’d been far too scared to think about the possibility of dating Karai given who her father was.

The fact that Leo was now her adoptive brother had no effect on either of them, it probably should, but the fact barely came up between the two. It didn’t seem to bother the rest of their family either.  

No one had ever cared for her as much as Leo did, he was always there when she needed him, even when she was manipulating him, after all the times she had betrayed him, he was still there, he helped her understand the truth about her parents and brought her to her rightful family.

There were times when she did like to string Leo on, back when she was working with the Shredder, as well as after, she loved that he was so willing to do anything for her but it had taken her a long time to realise that Leo was in love with her. She’d never thought Leo’s crush was anything serious and now she knew that it was...she didn’t know how she felt about that.

She loved Leo, she knew that, but giving into those feelings quickly? Not going to happen. She liked to flirt and tease, she wasn’t someone that took love seriously...but maybe she should.

Karai enjoyed brushing up against him occasionally, hugging him, holding his hand, kissing him on the cheek, spending time with him...they were very much an almost couple. But Karai never took the step to make them official and whenever Leo did, Karai pushed him back and they suffered a few days of awkwardness and confusion about how to act around one another before they went back to how they were before.

She knew she was messing with Leo’s head as well as his heart, but she couldn’t imagine herself in a loving relationship, not even with someone as great and wonderful as Leonardo. And he deserved someone much better than her.

For now, Karai would just enjoy what the two of them have and hoped someday she would be able to give Leo what he deserved or leave him alone.   


	11. Cold

11\. Cold

 

With the increase in crime around New York from various gangs and the kraang, the brothers and their human friends had been spending more time out patrolling. Like most nights, Casey and Raph had paired up and were currently watching a row of stores that had been targeted for robbery recently.

The October air at this time of night was cold, and Casey had his arms wrapped around himself as he swayed, trying to keep himself warm. Raph was crouched on the building’s edge, eyes scanning the street. Despite wearing next to nothing and being a reptile, Raph seemed to have no reaction to the cold.

“How are you not freezing?” Casey asked as he wrapped his arms around himself tighter, trying to warm himself up. “Aren’t you meant to be cold blooded?”

“Yeah, I just ain’t weak like you.” Raph teased, looking back at his friend.  

“Hey! I ain’t weak...I just get cold easily.” Casey muttered as he moved closer to Raph.

“Yeah, whatever you say.” Raph laughed. “You know, ya’ can go back to the lair if it’s too cold for you and help April and Donnie.” Raph said, usually something said like that in a teasing manner, but he was sincere, worrying about how much Casey seemed to be getting affected by the cold.

“Nah, don’t want ta’ get in the middle of those two more than I already have.” Casey said, shrugging off the suggestion.

“Ya’ want April and Donnie to get together?”

“Sure, why not? Donnie’s obviously head over heels for April and I actually think April really likes Donnie.”

“Then why did you stand in their way for so long?”

“I was forcing myself to be straight, you know that, and getting Donnie so riled up was fun as well.” Casey said, laughing and Raph glanced at him sideways.

“Ya’ sure you weren’t actually after Donnie?” Raph asked.

“Wh-what?” Casey stuttered before laughing. “No way man, Donnie’s fun and all but he’s not my type.”

“What giant mutant turtle not your type?” Raph laughed.

“Shut up, I don’t even know what my type is...ain’t never gave it much thought with the whole trying to be straight thing...although this guy at school did ask me out the other day.”

“Yeah?” Raph asked, in a slightly higher pitch than usual and coughed to cover it. “Ya’ say yes?”

“Yeah I did.” Casey replied and Raph felt an unfamiliar feeling in his chest, it felt slightly like anger mixed with something else.

“Okay.”

“I mean it ain’t serious, I barely know him but I’m tryin’ to get out there y’know...I think this is a good step.”

“Yeah, sure.” Raph said and Casey frowned, feeling more cold from the cold shoulder he was suddenly getting from Raph, but thought better than to ask him about why he was suddenly in a bad mood.

“It’s nothing serious.” Casey repeated, feeling the need to put it out there.

“Yeah I heard ya’ the first time Case.”

“Sorry man, ya’ know your opinion matters to me and you seem pissed that I’m going on a date.”

“Guess I’m just worried ya’ gonna run your mouth, say something that you shouldn’t.” Raph lied, thinking up the most realistic sounding lie he could.

“Raph I would never put you guys at risk like that!” Casey said, hurt.

“I know, I’m sorry.” Raph apologised. “I hope you have a good time.”

“Thanks Red.” Casey said, biting his tongue at the nickname, not an unfamiliar one, but one he had never used for Raph before. “I...I’ll let you know how it goes.” Casey said, cursing himself for stuttering after calling Raph the affectionate nickname that he had previously used for April whilst trying to court her.

“Yeah...okay.” Raph replied, refusing to keep eye contact with the human boy.

The two spent almost the rest of the night in silence, both feeling awkward over the turn their conversation had taken.

Casey wished he had never mentioned his date...maybe Raph was jealous that this guy was going to become Casey’s boyfriend and he would be spending all his time with him if this date meant well. Casey was Raph’s closest friend and one of his only human friends, this guy could come and take that all away from him.

Turtle and human both stood next to each, secretly hoping that this date would not end well.


	12. Dream

12\. Dream

 

“Hey Raph, you busy?” Casey asked as he stepped into Raphael’s room.

“No man, what’s up?” Raph asked as his friend moved closer to where Raph was standing.

“I was thinking about you last night.” Casey said as he moved onto the bed and Raph scooted away slightly to make room for him.

“Yeah?” Raph said, confused.

“Yeah.” Casey said and his hand reached out to touch the top of Raph’s thigh, causing the red banded turtle to yank his leg sideways and away from the human.

“Casey what are you doing?”

“I wanna touch you.” Casey said as his hand continued moving on the turtle’s leg, reaching for his lower plastron.

“Casey!” Raph shouted his friends name, just before his mouth was covered by Casey’s. Raph’s immediate thought was to push his friend away from him, but that was quickly pushed away when Raph’s brain registered how warm and amazing Casey’s mouth felt and when he felt Casey’s tongue asking for entry, he opened his mouth and moaned.

Raph soon found his hands holding Casey’s shoulders and pulling him closer, so that their chests were touching and he no longer pulled his legs away from Casey’s, enjoying the feel of Casey’s wandering hand, making his gut tightened and his erection harden.

Casey ended their kiss, but Raph’s grip kept the two close.

“Raph...I-”

Whatever Casey was going to say was cut off and the image of his faded away as Raph came out of his dream, disturbed my his name being shouted by Leo outside his door, telling him that he was late for practice.

Shoving his head into his pillow, he counted to ten before he got up and dressed, hoping that practice would get his mind off of the dream that he’d had.

It had worked for a while, but then he’d sat down to watch television, he had no idea what he was watching but the plot was somewhat interesting so he’d kept it on. The scene moved to two men talking to one another about a fight they’d had and were clearing things out between them and shared a kiss.

Rolling his eyes, Raph turned off the tv and sighed, so much for trying to keep his mind off the dream.

“Hey Raph!”

“Ah!” Raph cried out as Casey placed a hand down on his shoulder. “Dammit Casey, where did you come from?”

“Woah, did I serious just sneak up on you? You’re losing it man.” Casey laughed as he settled down next to his friend.

With Casey sitting so close to him, Raph began feeling slightly uncomfortable, images from his dream started to appear in his head and he couldn’t look at his friend.

“Everything alright?” Casey asked.

“Uh, yeah, I just gotta go...help Leo with something!” Raph said as he shot up and ran towards the dojo, leaving behind a very confused Casey.

“Okay…?”

Raph had walked in on his father and brother in the middle of a one to one practice session and was immediately dragged into it. Usually he would complain and try and leave but with Casey just outside and his dream replaying in his head, he was more than happy to stay and practice with them for however long they wanted to.  

Unfortunately it was only a couple of hours and when he walked out, Casey was still sitting in the same place, although now with Mikey by his side as the two watched television.

“Hey Raph, you wanna watch with us?” Casey called out to his friend once he caught sight of him.   

“Nah, I’m gonna take a shower.” Raph said, waving them off as he walked upstairs and to the bathroom. Once Raph was out of sight, Casey turned to Mikey.

“Is Raph okay?”

“Hm? Yeah why do you ask?” Mikey said, not wanting to look away from the tv.

“He just seems a bit...off.”

“I dunno he’s been in a weird mood since this morning, but, it’s Raph, he’s always in some kind of mood.” Mikey shrugged.

“I guess...maybe I’ll leave, I’ll text Raph later.”

“Okay dude.” Mikey said as the human boy left the lair, giving Raph his space as he clearly seem to need today.  

By the time Raph finished his shower, Casey was gone and he felt much more at ease. He couldn’t go acting like this for much longer without Casey confronting him about it, and he really didn’t want that. He needed to get his act together, his dream was just a dream, it didn’t mean anything.


	13. Pirate

13\. Pirate

 

An advert for a monster movie marathon appeared across their television screen, making Mikey’s eyes go wide with excitement, the advert was quickly followed by another showing various Halloween costumes available at a new store that had opened up just for Halloween.

“Ah, dude look at those, they look so cool!” Mikey squealed. “We’ve got to get them!”

“Which one do you want Mikey?” April asked.

“I’m totally going as a Vampire dude!” Mikey said as he placed his hands on the television, getting far too close to it.

“I think I’ll go as a cat.” April mused.

“How original, will it be a sexy cat?” Karai teased and April blushed.

“Shut up.”

“I think I’ll go as a witch, I’ve already got a costume I can borrow from a friend.” Karai grinned.

“A witch would suit you.” April commented, getting Karai back for her sexy cat comment. “So what’s Leo going as?”

“How should I know?” Karai asked, defensively and April shrugged, afraid to say anything else in case she upset the kunoichi.

"I think Leo said something about going as a mummy.” Donnie commented as he took a seat in between April and Karai.

“What are you going as Donnie?”

“Frankenstein’s Monster.” Donnie smiled and Karai laughed at him.

“I can't wait to see that.” The dark haired woman chuckled and April glared at her.

“You’ll look great Donnie.” April smiled at Donnie who blushed slightly at the way she was looking at him as well as her words.  

“Yeah it will really suit you.” Karai laughed, leaving to go to the dojo where their father and sensei was currently meditating, ignoring the glares that were being sent her way.

“Do you have your costume already?” April asked.

“Yeah, I ordered it last week.”

“Dude! You could have ordered me one! There’s no way I can get mine in time for Halloween.” Mikey moaned.

“It’s okay Mikey, I can go to the shop and buy it for you, I need to get mine anyway.” April said and Mikey threw his arms around the redhead.

“Thanks April!”

“It’s no problem Mikey.” April chuckled as she returned the hug.

 

-

 

“Hey Raph, what’s up?” Casey said as he strolled into the kitchen, where Raph was sat looking through a magazine.

“Nothing, just trying to figure out what I wanna be for Halloween.”

“Ain’t giant mutant ninja turtle good enough?” Casey teased and Raph stuck his tongue out at the boy.  

“Ha, ha, funny.” Raph said, rolling his eyes. “What are you going as?”

“Well Mikey stole my idea about going as a vampire, so I’m still trying to think of what else I could be, everyone is stealing all the good ideas.” Casey moaned, slumping onto a chair. “Even Leo stole my back up costume.”

“You were gonna be a mummy?” Raph laughed.

“It’s an easy costume!” Casey said, defending himself.

“Right.” Raph said, still laughing whilst flicking through the magazine. “How about a werewolf?” Raph suggested and Casey shrugged.

“I could see that...think it would suit you more than it would me.”

“Why would it suit me?”

“Dunno, I could just totally see you as a werewolf, or should I say were-turtle.” Casey winked.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna be a werewolf.”

“Fine then I guess I’ve got my costume.” Casey shrugged. “What are you gonna be then?”

“Um, a pirate, I guess, the costume looks pretty good and April’ll pick it up for me tomorrow.” Raph said, closing the magazine. For a few minutes the two sat side by in silence, before Casey ended it.

“So...is everything okay with you?” Raph frowned and Casey cursed himself, hoping he didn’t set Raph off into a bad mood.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“You were acting really weird the other day and I didn’t know if you were in a bad mood...or it was something I did or...I dunno man, you just ain’t been acting like yourself recently.”

“I’m fine Casey I just...got some stuff going on at the moment.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it Case.” Raph said as he stood up, leaving the room but Casey trailed along with him.

“Come on man, since when can’t you tell me stuff?” Casey said, too loudly for Raph’s liking, given members of his family were sitting close by. Walking back to Casey, Raph put his finger to his lips before speaking.

“It’s personal Casey and I don’t want to talk about it, when I’m ready to, I’ll tell you...okay?” Raph whispered and Casey nodded.

“Okay man, as long as we’re good yeah?”

“Of course we’re good you idiot.” Raph rolled his eyes but smiled at his friend. “You coming on patrol tonight?”

“You know it!” Casey winked as he walked away from Raph and towards the group sat around the television set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I'm behind on this story? Stay tuned for the month late Halloween chapter!


	14. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter just would not stop! Enjoy this very long and very late Halloween chapter!

14\. Halloween

 

As soon as it was dark enough for all the trick or treaters to spread out in the streets, the turtles and their human friends were out also, enjoying the freedom which came with this holiday. Dressed in their costumes, the seven teenagers walked through the streets, collecting sweets and candy until they couldn’t carry anymore.

“Dudes, this is the best Halloween ever!” Mikey said as he took out his fake vampire teeth so that he could eat his candy, shovelling a handful into his mouth.

“You know what would make it even better?” Karai said, the tone of her voice making the others slightly uneasy as they waited for her to answer her own question.

“What?” Raphael answered for the group.

“Going to a party.”

“We can’t go to a party.” Leo said, frowning and Karai rolled her eyes.

“Of course we can, we’re all in costume, nobody is going to look at us twice, this is the only night of the year that you guys can actually go to a party, do you really want to miss out on an opportunity like that?” Karai asked and Leo knew what his answer would be, he didn’t care for a Halloween party where there were a great deal of people, drinking and dancing...it really wasn’t his scene...but he knew his brothers would disagree and he didn’t want to ruin their evening.

“Okay but we can’t stay too late.”

“Of course.” Karai winked and directed the group towards an apartment building where a lot of noise was sounding from.

“Dudes, this is so awesome.” Mikey squealed as they walked into the lobby of the building and let Karai lead them to the party.

“If you say so.” Leo sighed, trying to avoid all the drunk people hanging around the hallways.

“Halloween parties are the best, I crashed one last year by accident but the guys were cool with it and gave me a bunch of candy and alcohol, it was sweet.” Casey grinned and almost everyone else in their group rolled their eyes.

They reached the apartment where the main party was happening, inside the place was lit up mostly from a large disco ball someone had put in the middle of the room’s ceiling. Halloween music was blaring out from a loud set of speakings, behind which was a sullen looking teenager, most likely in control of the music.

There was tables along the side of the room on which were various snacks, drinks, candy and alcohol. The food caught Mikey’s eye and that was were the orange banded turtle headed towards first, ignoring Leo when he told his brother to be careful and to not eat too much.

Moving away from the entrance of the apartment, Leo positioned himself beside a window, crossing his arms and watching the room. Karai had followed Mikey towards the food and drink, although her eyes were on the alcohol and not so much the food. April had pulled Donnie over to the dance floor to dance with her and several others soon joined them.

Casey and Raph looked like they were about to move towards the food when two cups were shoved in their faces.

“Here we go dudes, drink up!” A young man dressed as a firefighter said as he handed Raph and Casey two cups before dancing away to a group of people on the dance floor.

“What’s this?” Raph questioned, looking into the cup as Casey took a swig of the liquid.

“Booze, vodka and cranberry juice.” Casey answered as he took another swig.

“Cranberry juice?”

“Looks like blood.” Casey said, winking before finishing off the drink. “And makes it easier to drink...come on Raph, have at least one.” Casey said, knocking his empty cup against Raph’s full one.

“Okay.” Raph cringed as he took a sip of the drink. He could taste the alcohol, only slightly and it wasn’t too bad, so he finished off the drink.

“Want another?” Casey asked, having found the table with all the party drinks.

“Why not?” Raph shrugged, following his friend through a small crowd of people. Leo watched his brother follow Casey to the tables that held alcohol and other drinks, wanting nothing more than to go over to them and ban them from drinking, it wasn’t safe, it wasn’t legal, what would Master Splinter think?

“Come on Leonardo.” Karai said by the side of the leader’s head, having come up by the side of him. “Have at least one drink.” She said, having seen Leo watch his brother and friend walk towards the alcohol.

“I don’t drink alcohol.” Leo said, crossing his arms. “And neither should you, it’s not wise to be drunk or even tipsy, that and you’re not even old enough to drink.”

“Come on Leo, just one...don’t make me force you.” She grinned and although her tone was teasing, Leo had no doubts she would do just as she had an evil glint in her eyes.

“Just one.” Leo agreed and took one of the cups Karai was holding and took a small sip, grimacing as he did so. “That’s disgusting.” Leo said, causing Karai to roll her eyes.

“You still need to finish the whole thing.”

Leo managed his way through the drink, and happily accepted a soda to wash away the taste of the alcohol, even with the fruit juice that had been mixed with the vodka, in Leo’s opinion, made it’s taste no better.

“Are you sure you won’t have another?” Karai asked, the tone of her voice being one that would usually sway Leo, but this time he would not be swayed.

“No.” Leo answered her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Well if you won’t drink, you have to dance.” Karai said, not giving him a chance to answer as she dragged him into the large crowd of people.

“Karai-” He protested as he found himself pressed up against the dark haired girl’s body.

“Come on Leo, dance with me.” She grinned, throwing her arms around the leader’s neck, making him tense up ever so slightly.

“Um, how much have you had to drink?” Leo asked, worried about how drunk Karai was, despite only having been at the party for a short amount of time.

“A lot...I like to get drunk quickly.” Karai smiled and rested her forehead on Leo’s. “It’s more fun that way.”

“Yeah...I’ll have to take your word for that.”

“You could just get drunk with me.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Leo said, smiling, even though he was very uncomfortable having a very drunk beautiful woman pressed up against him.

“Oh come on Leo.” Karai whined and Leo went to open his mouth to reply to her but soon found his mouth being covered by Karai’s.

As much as Leo wanted something like this to happen between the two of them, the last thing he wanted was for them to share their first kiss when Karai was drunk. Pushing her back, Leo glared at her, his expression turning angry.

“What the hell Karai?”

“What, like you don’t wanna kiss me?” Karai smirked and Leo’s anger became mixed with embarrassment, she wasn’t exactly talking quietly and she had drawn the attention of several people, luckily none of them his family or April and Casey.

“Karai, not here, not now and not like this.” He hissed quietly and she rolled her eyes.

“Whatever, I’ll find someone else to kiss.” Karai said and turned away from Leo, only for him to grab her wrist.

“No, we’re going home.”

“Seriously, we’ve been here for like less than an hour.” Karai slurred.

“Exactly, come on let’s get the others.” Leo said, but Karai pulled away from him.

“I’m not leaving.” Karai stated before marching off through the crowd of people to the other side of the room, a very agitated Leo following her.

 

-

 

“What’s this one?” Raph asked as Casey passed him another colourful drink.

“It’s called Purple Rain.” Casey said as he downed the drink and reached for another. “Damn, these cocktails are great...I mean I totally prefer beer but these are easier to drink.”

“These are good, never had a beer though so I can’t compare them.” Raph said as he finished his drink and reached for one of the same colour.

“You gotta have a beer bro’.” Casey said, waiting until Raph had finished his next drink before passing him a beer and taking one for himself.

“That’s pretty good.” Raph said before continuing drinking the beer. “Shit, how many drinks have we had now?” Raph asked, he hadn’t really been keeping track of how many drinks they’d had but he knew it was a lot, he definitely felt very unsteady on his feet and more relaxed and tired.

“Who knows man, but I feel amazing.”

“Yeah…” Raph chuckled, watching Casey’s adam’s apple bob every time he swallowed his drink, mesmerised by its movement.

“So what’s been up with you man?” Casey asked and Raph shook his head and blushed, realising that Casey most likely saw him staring at his neck.

“Huh?”

“You’ve been mega weird since I came out, you ain’t okay with me are ya’?” Casey asked and Raph opened his mouth in shock and uncertain how to reply.

“No, I’m okay with you Casey, it just made me think that I might like guys too.” Raph admitted, shocking his human friend, Raph had been so closed in recently and for him to come out with something like this was some...big news.

“Really?” Casey asked, failing to hide the excitement in his voice.

“Yeah, I-” Raph started to speak but was stopped by Karai coming up in front of him, in the small space that was between him and Casey.

“Your brother’s getting on my nerves.”

“Which one?”

“Leo, obviously, he freaked out because I kissed him and now he wants us all to leave.”

“What? But we just got here!” Casey said, lifting up his arms, knocking over several drinks on the table in the process. “Oops.”

“I know, he is such a killjoy, I only wanted to loosen him up, I only kissed him to try get him to have a bit of fun, but no joy.” Karai sighed and Raph frowned.

“No wonder Leo’s pissed if ya’ kissed him drunk.”

“Ugh, why do you all have to be so touchy feeling, I’m gonna go find some other losers to talk to.” Karai said, quickly moving away before Leo saw where she had gone.

“She’s a mean drunk.” Casey said, watching Karai walk away and Leo change his direction in the crowd to keep following her.

“Yeah.” Raph agreed.

“Anyway...you we’re talking about...um, how you might like guys?” Casey said, trying to get Raph to start talking about himself again.

“Huh? Oh, I dunno...I never really thought about it before and when you came out, I started to think about it, girls have never really interested me, like the only girls in my life...I don’t see anything there that would attract me.” Raph tried to explain, his words coming out slow and slurred and Casey laughed.

“Dude, you’re a sleepy drunk!”

“What? No I’m not!” Raph said, making sure that he was standing upright and opening his eyes slightly wider after realising his eyelids were drooping.

“You so are, it’s cute.” Casey teased and laughed.

“Shut up.” Raph laughed nervously.

“Aw, don’t get all embarrassed now Raphie.” Casey continued to tease, enjoying riling Raph up.

“Come on man, leave me alone, I’ve...I’ve never been drunk before.” Raph said, a hiccup interrupting him.

“Yeah I know man, but I’m definitely gonna get you drunk again.”

“Whatever.” Raph said, trying to cover his face with another drink as Casey stared at him.

 

-

 

“I didn’t think this would be this fun.” Donnie commented as he and April took a break from dancing to get something to eat.

“To be honest, neither did I, I’ve never really been into parties.” April admitted. “I guess I thought they would be a lot worse than they actually are...that and I was mostly studying.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.” Donnie said.

“I know, I just wish I had got out more to places like this, but, well, I didn’t have the friends to go with.”

“And now you have friends to go to parties with...just...Halloween only.” Donnie grinned, making the redhead chuckle.

“I’m glad I didn’t have friends to go to parties with, who knows maybe if I did I would never have met you guys and I honestly can’t imagine life without you guys.”

“You might have a more normal life.” Donnie chuckled.

“Where’s the fun in normal?”

“There’s no fun at all.” Donnie quipped back and April laughed.

“I like spending time with you Donnie.” April said, moving slightly closer to the tall turtle.

“I like spending time with you too April.” Donnie smiled widely, the adorable gap in his teeth showing and April had an overwhelming urge to kiss him, but the moment was interrupted by Karai pushing her way between the two.

“Leo is being a total loser and wants us to leave.” Karai’s words were slurred and there was a very strong smell of various drinks coming from her, enough to make April and Donnie screw up their noses. “But I’ve only just started to have fun.” Karai said, touching a hand to Donnie’s, making April tense up.  

“Have you ever been kissed Donnie?” Karai asked and Donnie’s face began to redden from embarrassment, whilst April’s did from anger.

“What, why are you-” Donnie was cut off by Karai.

“Leo didn’t seem to like it, would you?” She asked, and although her words were spoken to Donnie, her eyes were watching the turtle dressed as a mummy, stalking across the room.

“You kissed Leo?” Was Donnie’s only response to Karai.

“Karai!” Leo shouted as he reached the three others. “We’re leaving now, I knew this was a bad idea.” Leo said.

“But Leo-” Donnie began to protest, but he shut up when Leo glared at him. “Okay...come on April, let’s go.” Donnie said, surprising her by taking her hand and walking her out of the apartment, to stand outside in a different crowd of people.

“Leo did not look happy.” April said, looking down at their hands.  

“No, he didn't.” Donnie said and sighed, taking his hand away from April’s and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

“Should we go outside? There’s far too many people out here.” April said, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by how many people were around her in the much smaller space.

“Yeah let’s go.” Donnie said, once again taking April’s hand so he could guide her through the groups of people and so that they didn’t lose each other.

“Donnie.” April said as they were walking down the stairs to the ground floor.

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Donnie said, giving her a bright smile and suddenly made her feel very nervous.

“Okay...and I want you to answer me honestly.”

“April, what is it?” Donnie asked, frowning now, his smile gone.

“Did I hurt you?” She asked and before she could give Donnie a chance to respond to that, she spoke again. “All the time that I was rebuffing you, I thought I was doing it for your own good, but now I realised that I was probably hurting you and I am so sorry.”

“April, it’s okay, that’s all in the past, we’re good now, you’re my friend and that’s all I want.”

“But what if-” April was so close to admitting how she felt and how she wanted, until Leo called her name, asking her to take Casey back to his apartment and she agreed, ending what could have been her confession to Donnie about how she felt.

 

-

 

Leo held onto Karai and watched as April and Donnie left the apartment, now all he needed was to get his other brothers and Casey Jones out of the apartment so that they could all go home.

Casey and Raph were still at the drinks table, talking between drinks. Both seemed very unsteady on their feet and Leo sighed before moving across the room, helping Karai walk with him.

“We’re going home.” Leo stated to the two when he was close to them.

“Already?” Casey whined.

“Yes, Donnie and April are already outside, can you take Karai with you while I find Mikey?”

“No problemo.” Casey said as he took Karai from Leo and Raph helped hold her up from the other side. Once the two had Karai, Leo left them in search of the nunchuck wielding turtle.

“Damn Karai, what happened to you?” Casey laughed.

“Shut up.” Karai mumbled.

“You better not throw up on me.”

“You better get me outside quick then.” Karai mumbled and Casey and Raph did just that, just in time as, as soon as the cool air hit Karai, she brought up all that she had drunk and eaten, over the side of the steps and into the bushes.

“Nice.” Casey commented as he and Raph made faces at the sounds Karai was making.

“Well I guess I have that to look forward to.”

“Not everyone throws up when they’re drunk.” Casey tried to reassure Raph, despite the fact he was slightly off colour. “You know, you look really good as a pirate.” Casey said, playing with the brown sash that was part of the costume.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Casey grinned. “Could do without the eye patch though.” Raph was going to ask why that was but Mikey and Leo came out of the building and ended the conversation they were having.

 

-

 

“The food’s good right?” A blonde girl shouted over the music.

“Totally.” Mikey agreed.

“I’ve never seen you at one of Chad’s parties before, are you friends with his boyfriend?” The girl asked.

“No, uh, me and my friends kinda...crashed the party I guess.” Mikey said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh cool.” The girl giggled. “I’m Sadie, by the way.” The girl smiled.

“I’m Mikey.” The orange banded turtle smiled.

“So, do you like have a girlfriend or anything?” Sadie smiled, obviously asking for herself.

“Um, no, I used to have this sorta girlfriend, but we’re not together anymore.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear about that.” Sadie said as she placed her hand on Mikey’s forearm.

“No, it’s fine, I’m happy just being by myself.” Mikey smiled.

“Are you sure?” The girl asked, her eyebrows raising suggestively, which did not go unnoticed by the turtle.

“Yup.” He said, but the girl didn’t look like she was going to let up. “Totally sure.”

“Michelangelo!” Mikey’s named was called out across the room and Mikey felt a sense of relief wash over him.

“Oh, that’s my brother, I gotta go.”

“Your full name is Michelangelo? That’s so cool!” The girl gushed.

“I know right?” Mikey laughed as he moved in between and around people to get to the source of his brother’s voice, eventually reaching his oldest brother.

“Hey Leo, what’s up?”

“We’re leaving, everyone else is outside.” Leo stated and Mikey didn’t even think about arguing with the leader, given the look on his face, instead he followed him out of the apartment and to the street outside.

Karai was sat at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the front door of the building, looking annoyed and slightly sick, April and Donnie were standing close together and talking quietly whilst Raph and Casey were also very close, talking with one of Casey’s hands on Raph’s chest.

“April, can you take Casey back to his apartment? Make sure that he gets there okay? Text me to let me know when he’s home and then when you are” Leo asked.

“No problem Leo...come on Casey, let’s get you home.” April said as she allowed the taller human to lean on her as they walked away.

“Laters Raph.” Casey said, slapping his friend on the shell as he walked by.

“Laters Case.” Raph replied, barely able to keep his eyes open.

“Donnie, look after Raph, me and Mikey will get Karai home.” Leo said as he helped Karai up onto unsteady legs, Mikey coming round to the other side. Raph didn’t need much help walking, but Donnie stayed right by his side.

Luckily, Master Splinter was not waiting up for them and they were able to get Raph and Karai into their rooms without their father noticing how late they had stayed out or the fact that his underage children had all been out drinking.

“April’s just got home, Casey’s dad was home so he’s sleeping round hers.” Leo said,  before retiring to his room for the night.

“Well...night bro’” Mikey grinned at Donnie before he too went to bed.

“Night Mikey.” Donnie said, watching his younger brother go into his bedroom before Donnie made his way to his bedroom, stripping himself of his gear, mask and weapons before crawling into bed.

A soft ping sounded and Donnie’s cell lit up, picking up from his side table, he saw he’d received a text from April.

_Tonight was so fun, despite what happened with Leo & Karai, wanna hang out tomorrow night?” _

Donnie smiled before typing out a response.

_It was and of course, I’ll see you then. :)_


	15. Moon

15\. Moon

 

Crime in New York had been a wavy line recently, some nights there was non stop crime and others there was next to no crime, with the turtles and their human friends patrolling the city to find nothing interesting or important.

Tonight was one night where there was zero crime on the streets, so Casey was currently sat on the edge of a rooftop, moping and looking down at an empty street, hoping that they would see some action soon.

Raph was leaning against a rooftop shed, resting his head against the cool wood, trying to calm down the thudding in his head. Even though he was dealing with a lot of annoying pain from drinking as much alcohol as he did, he didn’t regret it, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to have a lot of nights like that and he made the most of it.

Drinking had definitely made him more comfortable than he had felt in the last few weeks, happier and more at ease, finding it easier to talk about anything and everything to anyone that would listen, which was mostly Casey. The awkwardness that sat between the two was gone had all but disappeared thanks to the two getting drunk together.

Raph must have made some kind of noise, because Casey turned to look at him, amusement painted on his face.

“You okay there Raph?” Casey chuckled, noticing how tired his friend looked.

“Yeah...kinda just wanna go back to bed.”

“Yeah hangovers ain’t great.” Casey shrugged. “You get used to ‘em.”

“How could you ever get used to this?”

“Ya’ just do bro’ wait until you get a two day hangover.”

“Ugh, yeah I ain’t ever gonna drink enough for that to happen, I don’t think I will be drinking again...my head kills, I feel sick, hot and tired and I barely remember anything that happened after the first few drinks.” Raph moaned, lying ever so slightly.  

“Oh, I’ll get ya’ to drink again pal.” Casey said, throwing a wink at the turtle who rolled his eyes. Casey was used to hangovers and could definitely remember a lot more of the night than Raph did and wanted nothing more than to get Raph that relaxed and happy again. Even just thinking about it, made Casey warm inside and he wanted to feel like that all the time.

“This is so boring.” Raph moaned, he would soon forget about how he felt if he had some bad guys to beat on, it would even make him feel better.

“Tell me about it.” Casey moaned in agreement, throwing his head back to look at the sky above him. It was a fairly clear night, a night wasted by sitting around waiting for something to happen.

“Casey...can I ask you something?” Raph asked after a few minutes of silence and Casey turned to his friend.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Did Karai really kiss Leo?” He asked and Casey laughed before cringing.

“Oh, yeah, Leo was not happy about that.”

“Woulda thought Leo would’ve loved that.” Raph said, rolling his eyes and wincing at the pain in his head that caused.

“Yeah, if she were sober, she was so hammered and Leo was hurt that she had to be drunk to kiss him...I mean he didn’t tell me that but you could totally see it in his face, he was mostly angry though.”

“Oh, yeah I remember that, Leo was so pissed.”

“I’m sure they’ll work things out.” Casey said, shrugging.

“Yeah and Karai can just go back to manipulating Leo.” Raph huffed. “Seriously, I know she was drunk but I’m still surprised that she kissed Leo, she’s been toying for him for ages, I didn’t think she would ever do anything.”

“I thought they were just taking things slow because that’s what Leo wants.” Casey said, slightly confused.

“No, they ain’t together, all Karai does is flirt and lead Leo on, she probably still will even now and Leo still won’t say anything, he’ll just act all pissed for a while.” Raph said.

“That sucks...Leo should really stand up to her.”

“He won’t.” Raph scoffed.

“Why not?”

“As much as Leo hates the games she plays...If he stands up to her she could just end everything and then he has nothing with her, which he would hate even more.”

“That extra sucks man, but how much longer can he go on like this? He’ll blow up one day.”

“Yeah, I can see that happening soon.” Raph sighed and Casey could see Raph was getting annoyed talking about Karai and Leo, and he could totally understand why. His brother and his emotions were being played with and he was just letting it happen, all because he had the slightest chance of a relationship with her. To try and lighten Raph’s mood, Casey changed their topic of conversation.

“April was getting super close to Donnie last night, I feel kinda bad for her, I can totally tell she’d into him, but he like doesn’t even notice! Weird to think not that long ago it was the other way round.”

“I think Donnie gave up all hope that anything would ever happen between him and April, I think now that you’re out of the picture and Donnie’s given her some space, she’s realised she actually likes him.”

“Kinda just feel like locking the two of them in a room together so they can talk about things.”

“Maybe you should.” Raph grinned.

“Nah, that’s too cruel, they need to talk about things when they’re ready.” Casey said, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t think it will be too long, April always looks like she’s on the the verge of saying something to him.”

“You ever talk to her about it?”

“No...do you think I should?”

“I dunno, if you want….but I think they will get there in the end, with or without help.”

There were a few minutes of silence between them before Casey decided to call it a night for them.

“Should we head back?” Casey asked, checking the time and looking out across the street again.

“Yeah, back at it again tomorrow?”

“You know it man.” Casey smiled, watching as Raph ran across a few rooftops, before dropping down into an alley with a manhole, access to the sewers so he could get home unseen.


	16. Brother

16\. Brother 

 

Leo watched the two of them with narrowed eyes. 

The pair seemed to be closer now than before, of course they were best friends and they were going to be close, but they seemed to have reached a new level of closeness, one that made Leo think that maybe there was something more.

Since the first time he had noticed the two acting closer than usual, he’d had his eyes on them, watching them every time they were together. Casey seemed to initiate a lot of the closeness, the touching and hugging that happened between the two and was always making excuses to spend time with Raph, especially when it was time they would be spending alone. 

It hadn’t taken more than a few days for Leo to stop watching them and start acting, pulling Casey into his bedroom when he was walking passed after using the bathroom.

“What the hell Leo?” Casey asked, rubbing his arm where Leo had grabbed and pulled him into his room. 

“What’s going on between you and my brother?” Leo asked, crossing his arms and staring at the human, making him feel slightly uneasy. 

“Uh, which brother?” Casey laughed but it quickly died when Leo’s eyes narrowed. 

“What is going on between you and Raphael?” Leo asked. 

“Look Leo, I don’t know what’s with the whole paranoid protective older brother act all of a sudden, but Raph and I are friends, we spend a lot of time together and we always have, I don’t know why suddenly you’re suspicious of me.” Casey shrugged, crossing his arms as well. 

“You’ve been getting closer to him recently.”

“Yeah, and?”

“I want to know why.”

“How am I supposed to give a reason for that, sometimes we’re closer than other times, sometimes we aren’t, I shouldn’t have to have a reason to be close to my best friend.”

“Casey are you attracted to my brother?”

“Wh-what?” Casey asked, taken aback by the question. 

“Are you attracted to my brother?” Leo repeated.

“I-I...what? Why would you think that?” Casey asked.

“Why do you think?” Leo answered Casey’s question with a question of his own. 

“What, just because we’re closer than usual? That’s...like, not something to get your panties in a bunch about bro’”

“I didn’t realise what I was noticing for a while, but after a while I began to realise that you were acting the same way to Raph as Donnie used to...to April, just a great deal toned down.” Leo said and watched as the boy in front of him squirmed. “And I can recognise the flirting...even if Raph can’t.” 

Casey opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again, not sure about what to say. 

“You can’t tell him.” Was the only thing Casey could think to say. “I don’t want to weird him out or lose him as a friend.” He continued and Leo frowned. 

“I don’t think keeping this a secret from him would be a good thing Casey, I don’t know who Raph is attracted to, if he is attracted to anyone...since you came out he has been acting differently.”

“Really? What do you mean?”

“I can’t explain it exactly...but he’s different, it’s like you coming out opened his eyes to something...and as much as I would like my brother to find someone better than you, no offence…”

“Offence taken, but go on.” Casey shrugged, wanting to hear where Leo was going with this. 

“I would like for him to have someone...I just want to make sure that if you want to be with Raph, it will be something serious...not something that will hurt him.”

“Dude, I would never hurt him.”

“Good...so what are you going to do?” Leo asked. 

“I...I guess I should talk to Raph about how I feel...I just need to think about how to tell him.” Casey said, taking a deep breath in and then out, an anxious feeling beginning to stir in his gut. 

“Go home and think about it Casey...I’m sure if you are honest with Raph, his reaction will be good.” Leo said, hoping he helped his human friend out.

“Yeah, yeah...you’re right, thanks Leo.”

 

-

 

Raph moved away from the door to his older brother’s bedroom and moved quickly and silently into his own room. Raph was slightly in shock about what he had just heard come out of his best friends mouth. 

Casey had romantic feelings for him, could this be how Raph was feeling about him?

He needed to talk to someone about this and he needed to talk to them now. 


	17. Deep In Thought

17\. Deep In Thought 

 

April was trying to sleep, she really was, but her brain was much too active at the moment to even attempt sleep. All of her thoughts were on a certain turtle and how close the two of them were becoming. 

April was thrilled by this, since Casey came out of the equation April had time and space to realise how much Donnie meant to her and how she felt about him. Time had changed a lot of things between them, instead of the needy and almost annoying Donnie that April had tried to push away to show she wasn’t interested to this calm and fun to be around Donnie that April wanted. But he wasn’t interested in her now, or at least he didn’t seem to be.

She had been spending more time around him, taking more of an interest in what he liked, what he was inventing or just being around in the background so that he wasn’t alone most of the time. She had even tried some subtle flirting, but to Donnie she must have just come across as being friendly, as he never responded. 

She needed to find a way to tell Donnie how she felt...without really telling him how she felt, she didn’t want him to think that she was lying to him, she’s strung him along too much that he might not be one hundred percent trusting if she told him that she wanted to be his girlfriend.

They’d gotten closer since the Halloween party they intended and April was slightly annoyed with Karai for being the reason that they had to leave early, who knows what could have happened if they hadn’t left. 

But she didn’t want to ruin the good place that their friendship was in at the moment, maybe this is how it was going to be for the time being. And she would have to just deal with that.  

A ringing interrupted her thoughts and she picked up her cell.

“Hello?” April answered the phone, not checking to see who had called her. 

“April, it’s Raph.”

“What’s up Raph?”

“I need to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?”

“I overheard Casey and Leo talking and Casey said something…”

“What did he say?”

“And I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“What did he say?” April repeated her last question. 

“He said...well not in so many words, that he had feelings for me.” Raph answered and April was stunned, she didn’t think that Casey would ever be interested in one of the turtles as a potential partner, although looking back on the previous few weeks, she did notice some of the times that Casey and Raph were together, and the way that Casey would look at Raph sometimes. The signs were all there, just none of them had realised it. 

“How does that make you feel?”

“Confused? I gotta admit since Casey came out I’ve been thinking more about myself and who I like.”

“Do you know who you like...could it be Casey?” April asked, secretly hoping that the two of them would have feelings for each other. 

“I don’t know, I have been thinking about things like that recently...maybe I do like him, y’know...like that.”

“Then you should tell him!” April said enthusiastically.

“Really? You would be okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” April asked. 

“Well, with all that happened with you guys before Casey came out, I didn’t know if it would hurt your feelings or anything…” 

“Raph, Casey and I are fine, I would be more than happy if you told Casey how you felt.” April answered Raph honestly. 

“Okay, thanks April.”

“Let me know how things go...good luck Raph.” April said and ended the call, staring at her phone. 

If Raph had the confidence to tell Casey how he felt after finding out his feelings were return, why was April waiting around for Donnie to come on to her again. She needed to take the initiative. 


	18. Kiss

18\. Kiss

 

Raph’s heart was racing as he left the lair to go to Casey’s apartment, hoping that he was there and wasn’t out somewhere. As he reached the apartment he saw the light of Casey’s bedroom window and knew he was in there and he was awake. 

Moving at a quick pace and without a sound Raph made his way across the rooftops until he was on the one that housed his friend. Making his way down the fire escapes, he reached Casey’s window and knocked gently twice, loud enough for his friend to hear but not too loud that it would catch anyone else’s attention. 

Casey appeared at the window a few seconds later, a very confused expression on his face. 

“Raph? What are you doing here? My dad’s home!” Casey said after he had opened the window.

“I need to talk to you!”

“Can it wait?” Casey asked.

“No it can’t Case’ this is important.”

“What is it?” Casey asked.  

“I…” Raph began to say and his heart started to race, being this close to Casey and with what he was about to say. “I heard what you said to Leo earlier.”

“What?” Casey asked, frowning before he realised what Raph was referring to and his eyes widened and mouth opened slightly. “Oh, that...I, um, Raph listen-”

“You didn’t mean it?” Raph asked, frowning and feeling slightly embarrassed about coming here now. 

“No, I mean yes, I did mean it, I just...wasn’t expecting to talk to you about this yet!” Casey tried to explain himself. “I’ve only just told someone about it!”

“Yeah,  _ Leo.”  _ Raph said, jealousy laced in his voice. 

“He corned me, what else was I supposed to do!?”

“Talk to me!” Raph replied and Casey groaned. 

“Look man, this is all new to me, I’ve only recently comes to terms with being gay and then I came out to you all, then I realised I liked you...ugh, this is why I wanted some time to think about what to say.” Casey said, rubbing his hands on his face in frustration and embarrassment. 

“Well, maybe I should just go…” Raph said, but Casey reached out to grab his arm. 

“Wait, no.” Casey said and Raph stopped, waiting for Casey to continue talking. “Raph...it’s all new to me man, the first person I have real feelings for is my best friend, the last thing I wanna do is mess us our friendship...that and I have no fucking clue about relationships, I ain’t ever been in one!”

“Oh what and I have? Ya’ been on dates...and kissed people, that’s way more than anything that’s happen to me.” Raph replied. 

“Yeah, but that’s not a relationship.”

“Is that what you want with me?” Raph asked, hopeful.  

“Well...yeah.” Casey said. 

“God, you’re so bad at this.” Raph laughed. 

“What?”

“Explaining how you feel.”

“What like you’re better that it than I am?” Casey said, frustrated. 

“Yeah I am.”

“Fine, prove it then.”

“Fine, Casey Jones, ever since you came out I’ve been totally confused about how I feel and who I like, it made me realise that I was into you...I dunno if I’m into all guys or if it’s just you but I’ve probably being feeling like this for a while. Whenever I’ve got something to say, I always wanna tell you first and you’re always there to listen, you’re fun to be around, you’re pretty alright looking.” Raph grinned and laughed as Casey gently punched him. “But seriously Casey, I can’t imagine being without you and I wanna be closer to you...do you…” Raph paused to clear with throat. “Do you wanna be my boyfriend?” Raph asked, grimacing slightly at how sappy that simple question sounded.

Casey couldn’t stop smiling from the minute that Raph started talking to when he finished, a red blush on his face almost matching the colour of his mask, which, in Casey’s opinion was super cute. 

“Damn Raph...yeah, I wanna be your boyfriend.” Casey grinned. Raph had an overwhelming surge of confidence and pulled Casey by his hoodie, pressing their chests up against each other before pressing their lips together. Raph had never kissed anyone before and had very little idea about what he was doing, but just the feeling of Casey’s soft warm lips against his was nice. 

He knew that Casey had kissed other people before, even that guy he went on one date with, so he let Casey lead, leaning back slightly to show some submission. Casey was quick to catch on and licked across Raph’s lips, sliding his tongue inside when he opened his mouth. 

Although Raph’s tongue was larger and wider than his own, they soon worked things out, enjoying the feel of the other’s mouth and both moaning. 

“Damn, Raph.” Casey panted as he pulled away from the turtle. “Ya’ sure ya’ haven’t kissed anyone before?”

“Shut up.” Raph grinned against his new boyfriend’s mouth before kissing him again, moving his hands away from his face so they could grab at his shirt.  

“Casey, you still up?” A gruff man’s voice asked from the other side of Casey’s bedroom door. 

“Shit, it’s my dad.” Casey said as he pushed Raph back towards the window. “Ya’ gotta go, I’ll see ya’ later.” Casey said.

“Okay, wait-” Raph said and pulled Casey close to give him a final kiss before disappearing out the window.  

“Casey?” 

“Yeah?” Casey called back, closing his window without a sound. 

“Ain’t you got school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, dad, I was just...finishing some homework before going to bed.” Casey called back, hoping that his dad wouldn’t come into the room. 

“Okay, don’t stay up too much longer.” 

“I won’t!” Casey said and listened as his father walked away from his room and he let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t come into his room. 

Casey looked over at his window and smiled, knowing Raph was probably going to watch his window until his light was out and he was asleep. Turning out the light and closing his blinds, Casey crawled into bed, a wide grin on his face as he fell asleep thinking about Raph and their shared kiss. 


	19. Rejection

19\. Rejection 

 

Leo had been laying in bed for almost half an hour before he realised he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep, and given it was almost six in the morning, he wouldn’t have got much more sleep anyway. Jumping out of his bed, he dressed and used the bathroom before making his way to the kitchen for a cup of tea and some breakfast.

Karai arrive not long after he’d finished eating his toast and ran her hand across Leo’s shoulder as she passed him on the way to the fridge. The smirk on her face told Leo she’d felt the goosebumps on his skin at her touch, but he tried not to let anything else show how much she had affected him with just one little touch. 

Sitting down with her food, Karai’s focus was on the breakfast in front of her, but her left foot was making its way up and down Leo’s right ankle and lower calf. 

Shifting in his seat, Leo moved away from her touch and tried to ignore her presence. She had been trying to ignore her completely for almost the past week, ever since the Halloween party where Karai had kissed him. She seemed to have not remembered the kiss, but that didn’t mean Leo was going to forget about it. 

Leo quickly finished his food and tea, placing the cup and plate in the sink for washing later before leaving for the dojo, leaving Karai alone in the kitchen. Karai arrived not long after, keeling next to Leo on the ground, making sure that their thighs were touching. 

Leo took a deep breath and sighed, trying to keep himself in check, wanting nothing more for the rest of his family to come into the dojo so that they could begin their morning practice. 

“Karai, can you-” Leo started to say but was interrupted by the sounds of his brothers coming into the room. Karai turned to him, smiled and winked before looking away when Master Splinter walked into the room to begin their practice session. 

Luckily, Leo was not paired up with Karai and was mostly on the sidelines with his father watching his brothers and Karai train. The only time he sparred, he was up against one of his brothers. He made sure that he ignored Karai during all of the session, but she definitely was not ignoring him. 

When practice ended, the small family left the dojo, all aside from Leonardo and Karai. Leo had decided to stay behind to practice his new katas, drawing his swords he did just that, ignoring Karai who was eyeing his form as he moved. He could feel her eyes on her, and he couldn’t help but be distracted by her. 

He closed his eyes and took his position, drawing one of his swords slowly until it was straight in front of him. He slowly moved through his katas, keeping his eyes closed as a way to ignore Karai, but she wasn’t going to let that happen. 

When Leo brought his sword down, it collided with Karai’s. He opened his eyes to see Karai grinning at him.

“What are you doing?” 

“Helping you...obviously.” She replied, drawing her sword away and taking a stance. 

“Of course…” Leo said as he backed away slightly, trying to control his emotions, knowing that this was just another one of her games, that he didn’t want to play. “Don’t you have anything more interesting to do?”

“No.” She answered before charging towards him. 

Leo knew that this was just another game that Karai was playing with him, but he went along with it, in his mind this was nothing more than sparring and he could avoid her touch if needed, and it was. Every time Karai came close to him, she tried to press her body against his and he successfully avoided her, even when their swords drew close, he made sure there was a large space between them. 

She knew what he was doing, he could tell that by the smile on her face. The smile was almost enough to push him over the edge, the bad feelings inside him that had been bubbling up since the Halloween party almost spilling over. 

What did push him over the edge was when Karai managed to knock one of Leo’s katanas out of his hand and pull their bodies close together, her lips brushing by the side of his face. 

“That’s enough!” Leo shouted, pushing the girl away from him.  

“Leo, calm down.” Karai said, rolling her eyes at the turtle. 

“Don’t tell me to calm down, this isn’t funny!” Leo growled and Karai was going to speak again when she noticed eyes on them from outside the dojo. 

 

-

 

“Raph!” Casey called out as he entered the lair and smiled when his new boyfriend turned around. 

"Hey.” Raph greeted him. “Did ya’ get my message?”

“Yeah...you sure you wanna tell them now?” Casey asked. 

“Yeah why not? You wanna sneak around and hide from everyone?”

“Well, no, so where is everyone?” Casey asked, noting the main area of the lair was empty. 

“Mikey’s in the kitchen making lunch, Donnie’s in the lab with April, Master Splinter’s in his room and I think Karai and Leo are in the dojo.”

“Okay, so do you wanna go get-” Casey was cut off when he heard shouting coming from inside the dojo. The shouting brought Mikey out of the kitchen and April and Donnie turned around from their places on the couch. The five looked at each other before Raph, Mikey and Casey decided to get a closer look at what was going on, with April and Donnie watching from the couch. 

 

-

 

Karai looked back at Leo after looking at the rest of the family outside and suddenly felt very closed in. 

“Leo-”

“I’m fed up of this Karai, I’ve had enough of being strung along for your own amusement!” Leo shouted, throwing one of his swords into the ground, just by her feet. 

“Leo-”

“No! You’ll listen to me for once, I’m tired of your lies and manipulation, you tell me you like me, you flirt with me, you  _ kiss  _ me...but when I want things to get serious, you aren’t interested, you act as though I disgust you!”

“Leo, that’s not-”

“I’m not interested in listening to what you have to say to me Karai, ever again, I don’t want to be a part of your game.” Leo shouted and paused for a few seconds. “I’m done...and so are whatever we are...just leave me alone.” Leo sighed and yanked his katana from the floor before leaving the dojo and the lair, wanting to get away from Karai and everyone else who had witnessed and heard the fight. 

Karai stood in silence, her mouth slightly open and her eyes shining with unshed tears. She could feel eyes on her and it was bad enough that they had seen and heard the fight between her and Leo, they didn’t need to see her cry as well. 


	20. Purple

20\. Purple

 

Donnie and April had been enjoying each other’s company on the couch, with the tall turtle tapping away on his laptop and April sitting closely by his side, watching the television, when Karai and Leo had their fight in the dojo that had spilled out to where they were. 

They had not wanted to move during, not wanting to get involved and possibly make things worse. It was also a very intimate fight about their feelings and they had no right to get involved in a fight that like. 

Once Leo had stormed off to his room and Karai had left the lair, Donnie and April had gone to his lab, wanting to leave the tense air. 

“Wow, that was unexpected.”

“I think that was long overdue.” Donnie said as he settled in his desk chair and April pulled up another chair so that she could sit next to him.

“What do you mean?”

“Karai has been leading Leo on for a while now, they were bound to have a confrontation at some point, I’m surprised that it took Leo this long...hopefully the two will be able to work out their differences and decide whether or not they want to pursue a relationship with each other or if they will just be friends.” 

April thought over those words as Donnie focused on his computer, continuing what he was doing on his laptop. 

“Kinda like what I was doing to you then?” She said and Donnie turned around to give April a disbelieving look. 

“April, we’ve been over this, we’re good now, you don’t have to keep bringing things up from the past to make yourself feel bad.”

“I know...and I know what Karai is doing is wrong but I think it’s the only way she feels comfortable expressing her feelings.”

"You think she actually has feelings for Leo?”

“Of course she does!” 

“Do you know that or are you just guessing?” Donnie asked.

“Well, she’s never told me but I do know, she’s liked Leo since she first met him and that turned into something else. Flirting and teasing and playing hard to get or whatever is probably the only way Karai can express how she feels. I’m guessing sharing feelings wasn’t top on the list of things that Karai and the Shredder did together.”

“I still don’t see why Karai did what she did instead of just telling Leo how she felt.”

“Because it’s not always easy.”

“How so?”

“Maybe because the person she is attracted to is a mutant turtle?.” April said and the look that Donnie was giving her was giving her a horrible feeling in her stomach. “I’m sorry that sounds horrible, but-”

“We’re turtles April, we’re animals, I get it, the average human would consider a human attracted to an animal, even a mutated talking one, wrong.” Donnie said, turning away from her. 

“Donnie, I didn’t mean that to sound so horrible, I’m terrible at expressing how I feel.”

“I thought we were talking about how Karai felt?” 

“We were...we are.” April said, failing to correct herself and now she and Donnie were staring at each other, waiting for April to explain what was going on. “Maybe I should just go home.”

“No April I want you to talk about what’s bothering you...it’s clearly something to do with the two of us.”

“Donnie…”

“April, you’re my friend, you’re my  _ best  _ friend, you can talk to me about anything and I want you to, please talk to me.” Donnie said, giving April his full attention as he stood in front of her. 

“Donnie...I don’t want to be your best friend...I want to be more than that.” She finally admitted, out loud, to someone other than her own thoughts. April watched as several emotions crossed the purple banded ninja’s face before he looked away from her, frowning as he thought over her words. 

“Why now?”

“What?”

“Why is it now that you decide to have feelings for me?” Donnie asked, still looking off to the side. 

“I didn’t  _ decide  _ to have feelings for you, I just did.”

“But...what changed between us? After explicitly showing my feelings towards you and you always rebuffing me...now that I’ve finally moved on you like me?” Donnie asked, glancing at her quickly, enough to show that her words were hurting him. 

“Oh Donnie.” She sighed, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her. “I told you I’m not good at expressing my feelings...I’m not good with feelings period and this is something that I’ve never felt before. All that time that you were...showing me how you felt...I felt...uncomfortable, I wasn’t used to anybody acting that way around me...that and it was over the top.” She said, with a smile and was happy when she made Donnie smile also. 

“But I’ve thought more about...us, ever since you backed away and when Casey came out...I enjoy being around you Donnie, even if it’s just sitting together on a couch I love your company. You’re brilliant, intelligent, comforting, caring and so many more things and I hate that I rejected you because...because…”

“Because I’m a turtle?”

“Yes.” She answered honestly, she would always be honest with him now. “But I’m getting over that slowly...I shouldn’t let something like that get in the way of my happiness.”

“April...I don’t know how I feel about this.” Donnie admits and April understood, but had one thing to say in answer to that. 

“Just tell me you believe what I’m saying, I would never lie to you about something like this Donnie, despite how much I’ve lead you on in the past.”

“I believe you April...I guess I just...have a few trust issues.”

“And I completely understand them.” April said honestly and moved her hands from his face to his shoulders and was happy to see that he maintained eye contact. “Do you...do you still  _ like  _ me?” 

“I never stopped...I just stopped showing how I felt.” Donnie said and April couldn’t help the wide smile that appeared on her face. 

“So what does this mean?” April asked, hopeful. “Do you want to give us...a go?” 

Instead of answering her, Donnie moved forward slightly and down so that they were at the same height. Confidently, although still slightly nervous, Donnie pressed his lips against April’s in a short kiss. 

“Yes.” 

April tried to pull him forward for another kiss when Donnie stopped her. 

“But I have one condition.”

“Anything.”

“We take this slow.” Donnie said and it hurt April, knowing that this was because of what she had done to him in the past, but if all it was going to take to finally be with him was some time, then she could handle that. 

“Of course Donnie.” She said, this time going for a hug, enjoying the feel of having him so close to her. 


	21. Rain

21\. Rain 

 

“And reports suggest that this rain could be sticking around, stayed tuned for updates.” The weather reporter said as he signed off and Raph sighed as he changed the channel and looked at Casey sat next to him. The last few days had been nothing but miserable and awkward, because of what had happened between Leo and Karai.

Raph should be feeling excited and happy, he and Casey had just started dating, something Raph thought he would never have and now he was keeping it a secret because he didn’t want to upset his brother. 

His whole family had been tense since witnessing the fight. Master Splinter only came out of his room for food and tea, spending most of his time meditation over the fight two of his children had, had. Mikey was spending a lot more time out of the lair, doing what? No one knew where he was going and whenever he was in the lair, he locked himself in his room. 

Donnie and April spent all their time together in Donnie’s lab, only being seen during meal times or when April came and went from the lair. Both Karai and Leo spent all their time in their rooms, both came down to the dojo and kitchen occasionally but they never crossed paths. Raph and Casey had been trying to spend some time together as a new couple without being seen, they were sure that their family and friends would be happy about their relationship, but they didn’t want to chance it with all that was happening.

“Wanna get out of here? This place is making me tense.” Casey said and Raph nodded. 

“Yeah, let’s go.” Raph said, grabbing Casey’s hand and dragging him out of the lair before anyone could see where they went. 

 

-

 

Leo let out a cry of anger and punched the nearest wall to him, the wall of a rooftop shed, making a small dent in the brick. He’d hoped that coming out for a run in the rain would help calm him down and clear his head, but it was no good, he was still angry, still confused and upset. 

Time didn’t seem to be helping him, neither was exercise or meditation, he was almost at a loss at what to do to make himself feel better. 

Leo pressed his forehead against the cool brick and tried to keep his anger in check and focus more on the surroundings around him. When he did so he could hear the sounds of a fight coming from nearby and decided to check it out. 

Reaching the edge of the rooftop that he was on, he could see the fight was coming from the alley and that it was between some purple dragons, Raphael and Casey. Knowing his brother and friend wouldn’t need his help in taking down these low life thugs, he watched the two of them. 

They frequently left the lair together since Leo and Karai had their fight and Leo couldn’t blame them, being at home wasn’t exactly comfortable or normal at the moment. 

It didn’t take much more than a one sided beating to have the purple dragons running away, leaving behind all the electrical items that they had stolen. Raph and Casey laughed as the men ran away before facing each other and having a conversation with each other that Leo couldn’t quite hear. 

He could see them just fine and what he saw, after just a minute of conversation was the two teenagers kissing. Of course Leo knew how Casey felt about his brother, but he had no idea that he’d told Raph and that Raph had felt the same way. Honestly he thought Raph would turn Casey down and the two would continue being best friends, but apparently not. 

What hurt about this though was that Casey and Raph had been keeping this a secret, from their family and from him. 

Without another thought, Leo made his way down the building to drop down in front of the two, startling them. 

“Shit!”

“Leo! Man you scared-” Casey began to say before he was cut off. 

“What’s happening here?” He asked, looking between the two with an expression that made both of them slightly nervous. 

“What d’ya mean?” Raph asked, narrowing his eyes. 

"What’s happening between the two of you?” Leo asked more clearly. Casey and Raph looked at each briefly before back at Leo so Casey could answer his question.

“You know what’s happening between us, you’re the one who told me to tell Raph about how I felt…”

“And Raph felt the same way?” Leo asked, jealousy at how happy the two looked with each other, even when it just standing next to the other.

“Actually  _ I  _ was the one who told Casey how I felt and asked him out, I heard the two of you talking.” Raph explained, annoyed that Leo was talking about him yet 

“You returned his feelings?” Leo asked, his expression turning unreadable. 

“Yeah...but I don’t see what business this is of yours.” Raph growled.

“Raph, come on leave it.” Casey said, sensing a fight building up between the two. 

“It is my business, you’re both part of my team and I need to know everything that happens in my team, including... _ this. _ ”

“I ain’t gotta tell you everything that happens to me, especially if it’s personal.” Raph spat out and Casey thought it best for him to stay quiet.

“Secrets can get us killed Raphael.”

“Nah, I think you’re just jealous, that’s what this is...you and Karai ain’t the perfect happy couple you want to be, but me and Casey are and that pisses you off.”

“Raph.” Casey said, warning his partner to stand down. 

“I’m  _ pissed off  _ that you’re keeping secrets from your family.”

“No, what I’ve been  _ doing  _ is tip toeing around you so your feelings don’t get hurt, but you know what? I don’t care anymore, you can act like a child if you want to but I’m not going to let you ruin what me and Casey have to make you feel better about your own relationship problems.” Raph ranted and Leo was silent for a moment, expressionless until he smirked and huffed out a short laugh. 

“It won’t last Raph.” And with that Leo left, not wanting to hear anything more from his brother.

Raph and Casey watched as Leo climbed the building and went out of their line of sight. They both felt the need to follow him to make sure that he wouldn’t get himself into trouble, but knew that their presence would not be welcome and would just turn into another fight as they both felt angry at what Leo had said to them. 

They made their way to the nearest manhole cover and disappeared into the sewers. They knew Leo would come home tonight and they would be there when he did, maybe they would apologise and maybe they wouldn’t, there was still a lot to talk about. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year guys! Hope this year is good to you all! I'm still waaayy behind on this story (which still has a Christmas and New Years chapter coming up eventually) I've just been struggling to find the time to write!


	22. Sword

22\. Sword

 

Leo refused to speak to both Raph and Casey after what had happened between the three of them, not even caring that they had waited for him to come home that night. Since them he had been locked up in his room, but after two days of barely leaving his room, he couldn’t stand it anymore, he needed to do something active and move around in a larger space.

He left his room, feeling eyes on him instantly, but ignoring them and making his way to the dojo, ignoring any words that were aimed at him. As soon as he was inside he calmed himself, unsheathed his swords and battled an imaginary enemy...and that was where he still was and what he was still doing 24 hours later.

Leo had expected to be interrupted by morning practice, but apparently that had been cancelled. The only thing that would stop Leo and bring him out of the dojo would be if someone came and dragged him out. Turned out someone did come to do that, but it was the last person he wanted to see and or talk to. 

“Go away Karai.” Leo growled as soon as sensed her presence.

“We can’t spend the rest of our lives avoiding each other.” Karai calmly stated. 

“Then why don’t you leave? Have a normal life topside, there’s no need to stay down here with us.” Leo replied, although not nearly as calm. 

“I have a life here, normal or not I don’t care, I want to be here with my family.” 

“Well I don’t want you here.”

“Yes you do.” Karai said and sighed. “Leo I know I can be cruel and...confusing but that was what I was taught to do by my...by the Shredder, the things that he made me do...the only way to get through the days was to detach from my feelings, especially the real ones.”

Leo didn’t want to know what the Shredder made his “daughter” do but he knew it was something awful and something no young girl should have to do. Karai was forced into a horrible life at such a young age.

“I understand you might need to use people’s emotions against them, but that should be enemies not people that are meant to be your friends.” Leo said, pointing a katana at her. 

“I know, but I can’t help it.” 

“No, you just like to hurt me, to lead me on...I’ll never have  _ anything  _ not like you can, it’s not fair to keep leading me on like I might have a chance.”

“Leo, I-” Leo hated seeing her like this, showing emotion, making herself vulnerable whenever he got angry at her, was this just another trick?

“Shut up! You can’t get yourself out of things by pretending to cry, pretending to be hurt and vulnerable.”

“I’m not pretending Leo.” She said and ignore the katana that was slid across the floor towards her. 

“If you want to help me feel better you can spar with me, properly this time.” He said and charged over to her, fed up of hearing her speak lies. 

She avoided his attack, refusing to pick up his other weapon, not wanting to fight him, she was hear to talk, no matter how bad she was at it and how much Leo didn’t want to listen. 

“Leo, I’m sorry that what I was doing was reminding you of your limited opinions, I never meant to do that...I didn’t even realise how much I was doing that.”

“I doubt that.” Leo said. “Pick up your weapon.”

“I’m not going to fight you...I don’t want to hurt you and you don’t want to hurt me.”

“You’ve already hurt me, shouldn’t I be allowed some payback?” Leo spat at her. 

“If that’s what you want.” Karai said and held her arms out. “I won’t move.”

“Pick it up!” Leo said and charged towards her again, his rage and other emotions blinding him. 

True to her word, Karai didn’t move, allowing Leo to slash her shoulder with his razor sharp katana. After Leo realised he had injured her, he pulled his sword away and threw it across the dojo, holding onto Karai’s shoulder as blood flowed down her arm. 

“Oh my god, Karai, I’m so sorry.” He said, letting go of the wound only to removed his mask and wrapped it around the wound, trying to stop the blood flow. “I need to get you to Donnie.”

“Okay.” Karai said through her gritted teeth, trying not to express too much how much pain she was in. 

There was nobody in the main area of the lair, which Leo was glad about, he didn’t want anyone to see what he had done to Karai, even though they would find out soon enough. Not even bothering to knock on the door, Leo and Karai made their way into the lab where Donnie was currently contemplating something written on a whiteboard.

He’d glanced at them when they came in and then focused back on his work. It had taken his brain a few seconds to realise Karai’s arm was bound with Leo’s blood stained mask. Looking back he saw that Karai’s shoulder was wounded. 

“What happened?”

“I...I…” Leo stammered. 

“I got hurt and I need help.” Karai said bluntly and Donnie nodded, not needing to hear anything more at the moment, just needing to fix her arm and stop the bleeding. 

The wound had almost stopped bleeding when Donnie removed the mask from her arm but a large number of stitches were needed to pull the skin back together and she would definitely have a scar left behind. 

Sat on top of a desk, Karai tried not to wince too much as Donnie pulled and tugged at the skin that had been cut. It took longer than Karai expected, as good as Donnie was, he didn’t have a great deal of experiences with stitches, he and his brothers rarely had cuts bad enough to require them. 

It didn’t go unnoticed by Donnie that Leo didn’t have his katanas that he almost always wore and that there was no way that this wound could have been self inflicted or even accidental. 

Once the stitching was done, Donnie dabbed away the rest of the blood away from the wound, wrapped it up, put her arm in a sling and gave her some medication with instructions on how much to take and when. 

Donnie left the lab and the two remained in silence, Karai holding her shoulder as she stared at the ground and Leo standing in front of her, wanting to say something but not sure what to. 

“I’m sorry.” Karai apologised, her voice small as she looked up at him. 

“You don’t have to apologise.”

“Yes, I do, what I’ve done to you...it’s not right and I know that despite how much I didn’t show that. I just want us to be good, you’re my best friend Leo, I can’t lose you because...well, I don’t have many friends and all of my friends are nothing like you.”

“You’re my best friend Karai, you always will be.” Leo said and Karai smiled at him and he couldn’t help smile back. 

Nothing else was said between them. They were in a better place now, not exactly where they wanted to be, but they would rather be friends and comfortable with each other than what they were before.


	23. Movie

23\. Movie

 

It was like watching a movie, and Mikey loved watching movies. And this one had action, angst, romance, all the best things that made a movie. 

All his brothers now had romantic partners, or almost romantic partners in Karai and Leo’s case, but he was sure they would be together before Christmas, now that they had got everything out of their systems. 

He, like Leo, had seen Raph and Casey getting closer and closer ever since Casey had come out as gay. (Finally, Mikey had been waiting for that for months) And was rooting for them to admit their feelings to each other and start dating. They still hadn’t official told their family that they’d started dating but it was obvious that they were, as well as obvious why they were still keeping it a secret even though everyone would be happy for them. 

That reason was Karai and Leo and the bad turn the two had taken many days ago when they’d fought about their feelings and what was happening between them. Apparently the teasing and flirting was one thing, but Leo wanted more than that and didn’t think Karai was ever going to take them further. It seemed whatever was between them was no more and they hadn’t spoken or even been in the same room as the other for a long time after. 

Master Splinter was well aware of their fight, but said nothing to anyone about it, even allowing Karai and Leo to avoid their shared practices as long as they did so in their own time. Mikey was sure that their fight had upset their father, but as usual his father kept his emotions, thoughts and feelings to himself. 

Leo and Karai had come to come kind of understanding yesterday, as Mikey had seen the two of them talking in the dojo and the lab, where Karai seemed to have obtained an injured shoulder somewhere between the dojo and the lab, but that wasn’t Mikey’s place to pry, she was okay and she and Leo seemed to be talking again so everything seemed fine. 

Donnie and April also seemed to have been getting a lot closer, with April looking at Donnie the way that Donnie used to look at her, which was weird to see given how many times April had turned his brother down. He’d been watching them closely since the first time he had noticed April giving Donnie  _ that  _ look and had been present for their first official kiss and was happy to see them finally become a couple, no matter how slow their relationship might progress. 

At least all his brothers had some kind of love life, the same could not be said for him. Mikey groaned, sigh and flopped onto his shell on the couch. 

“What is the matter my son?” Master Splinter asked as he came behind the couch Michelangelo was lounging on, staring up. 

“Oh, hey Sensei, nothing much...I was just thinking.”

“About?” Splinter asked, encourage his son to speak. 

“Love.” Mikey smiled and Splinter placed a furry hand on his youngest son’s shoulder. 

“And is this a love that you have or is this more relevant to your brothers?” Master Splinter as he son sat back up. 

“Both, mostly my bro’s” Mikey admitted. “I kinda never thought we would find anyone who would like us like that.”

“Not everyone sees mutants as monsters Michelangelo.”

“I know sensei, but you should see the people who scream in out faces and run away when we save them from getting robbed or beat up.” Mikey huffed and his father smiled down at him. 

“People fear what they do not understand, you cannot expect every human that you come across to have an open mind and even those that do may still get a sight from seeing something as unusual as a mutant turtle...remember April’s reaction when she first met the four of you? And now she is a very close and trusted friend.”

“And Donnie’s girlfriend.” Mikey mumbled. 

“And that too has taken it’s time...Michelangelo are you having problems in your relationship?”

“Haven’t got a relationship to have problems with.” Mikey pouted and Splinter frowned, he and Michelangelo talked a lot about the relationship he shared with Renet, but he was unaware that they had broken up, he knew that they had troubles but they had been working on them. 

“You have ended your relationship with Renet?”

“She ended it...things were just so complicated, we never got to see each other and the whole time travel thing and her being from the future...we couldn’t keep track of where we were and I’m pretty sure she knew we weren’t gonna last very long.”

“I’m sorry my son, but I am sure there is someone else out there for you.”

“I guess...just gotta find someone who looks past the green exterior.” Mikey sighed and Splinter chuckled. 

“And will you be looking for a male or female companion?” Master Splinter’s question had Mikey wide eyed and his mouth dropped open slightly, trying to think of a way to answer Master Splinter’s question, but all that came out was…

“What?”

Master Splinter chuckled again before speaking. 

“Michelangelo, I am well aware of what my children’s preferences are, I knew before the four of you did. I am aware that Raphael likes men, although did not think he would ever find that out for himself, I was worried your brother would never allow himself to have what he wanted.”

“Do you know…?”

“I know about your brother and Casey Jones, he has been a good friend to your brother and I know that he will be a good partner.”

“And…”

“Leonardo and Miwa...yes, I hope that they will one day they will be happy together.”

“So...are Donnie and Leo strictly into girls or am I the only one...swinging both ways?” Mikey asked, knowing his father wasn’t going to tell Mikey such private information, but it was worth a try. 

“I cannot and will not say my son, as it is not my place to do so...If you are so curious maybe you should ask them yourself.”

“Nah, I think I know.” Mikey said and his father smiled at him. Splinter turned to walk away and return to his room, but before he did there was one more thing he wanted to ask his son. 

“Michelangelo...are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine sensei, you don’t need to worry about me.” Mikey smiled and Master Splinter believed his optimistic son and left him alone. 

Of course Mikey was slightly sad that his first relationship had ended after such a brief span of time, but he had to look towards the future and he may just have someone who might be interested in him. 


	24. After A Battle

24\. After A Battle

 

Casey and Raph had still not come out to their family and friends about their relationship, so they spent most of their time out of the lair, sometimes they would sit on a rooftop, talk and make out and other times there would go looking for crime to stop and bad guys to beat up.

Tonight was a night when they went out of their way to find some criminals to stop, they’d already stopped two robberies and were on a small adrenaline high, actively looking for other criminals and it didn’t take them much longer than five, maybe ten minutes before they came across some lowlifes attacking a young woman for her purse and trying to pull her clothes off.

If there was any kind of criminal that Casey and Raph hated more than the rest, it was rapists. They made sure this woman would not be a victim and jumped down into the alley, startling all the people in the alley.

“Stay back you freak!” One of the men said, pulling a knife from his pants and pointing it at Raph and Casey, who rolled their eyes and grinned, a knife was nothing to them.

Raph quickly disarmed the man and twisted the arm that had been holding the knife, behind his back, holding it there until he heard a satisfying crack and the man collapsed onto the ground, crying out in pain as he cradled his arm.

Whilst Raph was doing this, Casey went after the two men that were attempting to undress the woman, who was fighting them viciously.

“Let her go!” Casey shouted at them and they laughed at the teenager.

“Yeah? What are you going to do?” The larger of the two men scoffed.

Casey drew a baseball bat from his selection of weapons, making the two men laugh, but Casey didn’t pay them much more attention, his only focus on getting them away from the woman and her to safety.

Casey advanced on the larger man first, who’d let go of the woman so that he could take a swing at the boy, but he missed. Casey’s bat came down on the man’s neck, causing him to fall to the ground. With one more blow, to his head, the man was unconsciousness and lying on the ground.

Turning back around, Casey was happy to see the other man looking surprised and slightly nervous that this young boy had taken down his friend with just two moves and a baseball bat.  

“Now come on kid, you don’t need to do this.”

“Neither do you.” Casey growled and skated over to the other man, knocking him away from the woman, who fell to the ground with a cry.

The man stumbled several paces but didn’t fall over, as soon as he steadied himself and before Casey could get over to him, he pulled out a knife, larger than the one the other man had, but Casey wasn’t worried about the knife, it he could dodge katanas and other weapons that ninja wielded, he could go against a knife held by a low life thug.

Whilst fighting against the man with the knife, Casey could see the larger man start to stand back up, holding his head. He needed to disarm the man he was currently fighting before the other one realised what happened and came after him.

He wasn’t quick enough and the large man was right behind him before he could react. But the man didn’t touch him, he didn’t move. When he saw a green figure behind him, he understood why.

Raph held his sai against the man’s back, pressing it against him slightly so that he could feel how sharp the weapon was.

“Don’t you dare touch him.” Raph growled and the man nodded but made no other movement. “Get out of here.”

The man nodded again and slowly walked away from Raphael, before breaking into a run, his two accomplices following him and Casey couldn’t help but laugh at them running away.

He also couldn’t help but feel slightly turned on at having Raph defend his life, he’d already had to watch Raph fight, which was like poetry in motion, a phrase Casey had never used before meeting the turtles.

“So...where else-” Raph started to speak but was cut off by Casey’s covering his mouth with his own. Raph was nearly pushed over by Casey pressing his body into his and grabbed onto his hoodie to try and keep himself up.

Casey pushed Raph back until his shell came into contact with the wall of one of the buildings they were in between, never breaking their lip contact.

When Casey began biting at Raph’s lips, the turtle opened his mouth and the two began moving their tongues against each other, both moaning into each others mouth. Raph let go of Casey’s hoodie and placed his hands at his boyfriends hips, massaging them before they made their way under his shirt, feeling the smooth skin of his partner’s stomach and chest.

Casey moaned at the cool pebbled touch of Raph’s hands on his skin and found his own hands wandering across Raph’s arms and his sides and eventually down between his legs. Casey's hand began petting at Raph’s lower plastron as one of his legs pressed between Raph’s.

“Ah-!” Raph removed his hands from Casey’s chest and pushed him back slightly.

“Wha...what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just…”

“Is this going too fast for you?” Casey asked, still slightly out of breath.

“...A little.” Raph admitted with a flushed face, which Casey couldn’t help but smile at.

“It’s okay Raph, honestly, I got a little lost in the moment there.” Casey admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, no, it’s okay...you wanna go back to the lair? The guys are gonna watch a movie tonight if you wanna join?” Raph suggested.

“Of course! Wait...who’s picking the movie?” Casey asked with narrow eyes.

“Mikey.” Raph grinned.

“Ugh.” Casey moaned but followed Raph as he made his way to a manhole cover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is some of the only writing I have done in the past week, work is killing me. :(


	25. Study

25\. Study 

 

 

April held her textbooks against her chest as she made her way into the lair, a wide grin on her face as she walked towards the turtle she had just recently started dating. Donnie and April had recently came up with the idea of Donnie helping her study for her exams, not that she really needed the help but it gave her and Donnie an excuse to spend time together alone. 

Knocking on the doors to the lab, she didn’t wait for an answer before letting herself in and making sure that the doors were closed behind her. 

“Hey April.”

“Hey Donnie.” She replied as she crossed the room, sitting down on the chair that Donnie had placed next to him for when she arrived. 

“What are we studying tonight?” Donnie smiled and April pulled a large book on Chemistry, the science she found to be the hardest and knew that Donnie loved. Although these study dates weren’t really for studying, they occasionally did talk about school and prepare her for exams and papers. 

“My worst enemy.” April joked as she opened the book to a random page, looking at it with little interest whilst all Donnie’s attention was on the redhead. 

“Where do you want to start?” Donnie asked, his eyes still not leaving April. Ever since the two had began a slow relationship, he felt his old feelings for her bubbling up again, although was much better this time at concealing them.

“Literally anywhere, we haven’t covered any of this in class yet and I have a feeling Miss Marsh is going to surprise us with a test to show that none of us read ahead.” April moaned, she hated her Chemistry teacher, she would often complain about the teachers at her school and Donnie was more than happy to hear about that and anything else that had gone on in her day. 

“She does like to torture you.” Donnie laughed, thinking about all the time this teacher had brought up surprise tests and quizzes in the past. 

“And she’s not the only one, I know we’re nearing the end of high school and they want us to do the best that we can but all this is just stressful!” April continued complaining, noticing that Donnie was laughing at her. “It’s not funny!”

“Sorry.” Donnie chuckled, the way he was looking at her made her face heat up. “So...Chemistry?” Donnie said, pulling the book towards him so he could see the book better and know what it was exactly they were studying tonight. “Oh, this is easy!”

“Yeah, for you maybe, you’re a genius...I’m just a high schooler who used to be an high achieving student.”

“You’re brilliant April, when have you ever got less than an A?”

“Well, I haven’t...yet, I used to get A+’s.” She said and Donnie rolled his eyes.

“I doubt you will ever get less than an A, especially with me helping you.” Donnie grinned, making April smile, she did love it when he got cocky and full of himself, he didn’t do so as much anymore, he was much more reserved than he used to be. But April loved seeing Donnie confident, especially around her.  

Before she could stop herself, she was kissing him, which surprised him but he responded to it, but much like their kisses before, it was short and Donnie pulled back when he felt April’s tongue against his lips. 

“April…”

“I’m sorry...I couldn’t help myself.” She replied, shrinking away from the turtle. 

“It’s okay…” Donnie said, moving closer to April and placing a hand on her thigh. April took that as an invitation and when she moved forward again, Donnie met her in the middle and they shared another kiss. 

They both lost themselves in the kiss and soon April opened her mouth, allowing Donnie’s tongue entrance, deepening their kiss. April wrapped her arms around Donnie’s neck and pushed against him, soon finding herself straddling his lap. 

Donnie’s hands came up to April’s hips, holding her in place on his lap so she didn’t fall off, the feel of her wide hips was also a bonus to holding her. When Donnie moaned into her mouth, April found her hands moving to hold the turtle’s face.

April moaned as she arched her back, causing her chest to press against the plastron of her partner, who shivered in return, feeling the heavy weight of her breasts against him.

“A-April…” Donnie stuttered as he moved back slightly from the redhead. “Um, I think we...we should…” 

“Y-Yeah, of course...sorry.” April pulled herself back and off his lap, sitting back in her own chair, flattening her shirt which had been pulled up slightly during their make up session.

“A-hem.” Someone said from the entrance to the lab and the two teenagers nearly jumped out of their skin, turning in their chairs to see Master Splinter watching them. “I suggest that the two of you leave the doors open when you are alone together…” He said and with a smile he left, leaving the flustered couple staring after him. 

“Well...that wasn’t embarrassing at all.” Donnie said and April laughed, pulling Donnie close to her again to kiss his cheek. 

“He’s happy we’re together.” April said and Donnie smiled. “So am I.” She said and kissed his lips this time, quickly so that it didn’t turn into a deep kiss that would make them forget where they were. 

“So…” April said when they had parted. “Should we continue studying?” 

Pulling the long forgotten chemistry book back towards them, Donnie found the page that they had been on before they had been more interested in each other. 

“We didn’t get very far.” Donnie commented with a sly smile.  

“Well we’ve got…” April looked at the watch on her wrist, “two hours left before I promised my dad I’d be home.” She smiled, although the door to the lab was now open and anyone outside could look in or come in at any time and see what they were doing, she didn’t care and gave him another kiss, although did hold herself back from crawling onto his lap again, as much as she wanted to. 

“I thought we were meant to be studying?” Donnie said, pulling himself away from April, as much as he didn’t want to. They had been together for just over a week, and this was the first time the two had kissed more than once and the most passionate kiss they shared and was sure they might have gone further had he not pulled away and Master Splinter walked in. 

“We have two hours.” April said before covering Donnie’s mouth. She loved kissing him and the was the most comfortable he had been around her since they had been dating, she was going to make sure she got the most out of her evening with the turtle she was falling in love with. 


	26. Cigarette

26\. Cigarette 

 

Leo had just finished his meditation in the dojo and came out to a very quiet lair, especially considering it wasn’t very late in the evening. There was a crack in the doors to the lab and some light pouring out, so he knew where Donnie was, most likely with April, given the door was slightly open. 

Casey and Raph had mostly likely gone out as it was dark enough for them not to be seen, as for Mikey and Karai he had no idea where they were or if they were with each other. Both of their bedroom doors were closed, which could mean that they were both in their rooms. 

Stretching out his muscles as he walked over to the couch he noticed a note placed on the table in front of the couch, on top of all the magazines that littered it. 

 

_ I’ve gone out for a run, I'll be back before midnight. _

 

__ \- Karai _ _

 

 

It was unusual for Karai to leave a note to explain where she was, but she did usually tell someone, so this could mean she hadn’t told anyone where she was going. Leo didn’t like that and although he knew that Karai could more than look after herself, he wanted to make sure that she was okay. 

He knew it might take some time to find her, but he decided to go to her most well known locations, places where she often went when she went out for a run as well as the more common places they went on patrol. 

It didn’t take long to find her on a rooftop in Chinatown, sat on the edge, looking down, a cigarette between her fingers. 

“You know those can kill you.” Leo said as he walked across the rooftop to her. 

“It’s not like I smoke them often.” Karai said, taking a drag as the turtle sat down next to her. 

“You shouldn't be smoking at all.”

“I can’t drink, I can’t smoke...what can I do?” Karai smirked at Leo.

“You can talk to me...about why you’re out here.” 

“I just needed some time away from the lair...and one of these, I’m pretty sure father knows I smoke, but it doesn’t mean I need to do it in front of him or where he might stumble across me in the sewers.”

“Why do you need to smoke?”

“To help with stress.” Karai admitted as she put out the cigarette.

“You know there are better ways to deal with stress.”

“Don’t lecture me, just because you don’t smoke doesn’t mean you’re a better person than me.”

“I wasn’t saying that…” Leo said, frowning at how standoffish Karai was acting towards him. He knew things weren’t brilliant between them but he thought that he and Karai could have a normal conversation without one getting angry or annoyed. 

“I know...I’m sorry…” Karai said, putting her face in her hands and Leo was unsure of what to do. He wanted nothing more than to place a hand on her shoulder or give her a hug, but didn’t think that would be received well. 

Before he could try and comfort her in anyway, her heads tilted sideways and rested it on Leo’s shoulder, her soft hair tickling him slightly. Her hands were still covering her face and Leo waited for her to speak again, for the time being he enjoyed the feel of Karai so close to him. 

“I don’t even need to be stressed, I’m just causing myself to be.”

“What do you mean?” Leo asked. 

“All this  _ stuff  _ between us, ever since our fight I’ve just been stressed, first because I thought that you would want nothing to do with me and now…”

“Now what?”

“Now it’s because I’ve ruined everything.” Karai admitted and Leo felt something in his chest, he wasn’t sure what it was and guessed it was a mix between hope that Karai actually had feelings for him and some uncertainty, she could be talking about something else. 

“Everything?” 

“Everything between us.” Karai confirmed. 

“You haven’t.”

“Really?” Karai laughed, sitting back up and moving away slightly from the turtle. “After all I’ve done to you? Hurt you? You’d really put yourself through a relationship with me.” She said, her expression angry but Leo stayed calm. 

“I’ve hurt you too.” Leo said, brushing a hand against her shoulder. “We’re not perfect and we’ve got a lot to talk about...but I’ve wanted nothing but a relationship with you for as long as I can remember.” Leo said, being completely honest with Karai and hoping she would be the same with him. 

“You’ve always attracted me, the way you are, the person you are, your skill, loyalty, honour, I’ve never met a person like you. You’ve saved my life and I owe everything to you...you welcomed me into your family after all that I have done...I don’t deserve you.”

“Karai…” Leo began to say, stunned by her words, “that’s ridiculous, what happened in your past doesn't have to dictate your future.” 

“How can I ever make up for it?”

“You are...all the good things you’ve done since and all the good things you will do in the future.”

“How can you still like me after everything I’ve done to you?” Karai sighed, resting her head back on the turtle’s shoulder. 

“I’ll never stop liking you Karai, I care for you too much.” Leo said and the two sat in silence for a few moments before Karai once again raised her head and held Leo’s chin in her hand, pulling his head around to look at her. 

“I want this...but I want to do it right.” She said and rested her forehead against Leo’s. “I just need some time.” She said and Leo nodded, fighting the urge to kiss her, she was so close to him. 

The two enjoyed the closeness of the other for several more minutes before they decided to go home. Karai allowing Leo to hold her hand through the sewers, only letting go when they reached their home. 

Leo slept well that night, knowing that he and Karai were more than good and hoped that they would be officially together soon. 


	27. Pushing Boundaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! With a longer chapter where two teenagers turn this story mature. Enjoy!

27\. Pushing Boundaries 

 

“You sure this is a good idea?” Raph asked as he entered Casey’s bedroom through his window. 

“They’re not gonna be back for at least three hours Raph, it’s our only chance to be alone...at least alone somewhere that’s warm.” Casey said, referencing the fact that the only time they got to spend just the two of them, without having to worry about their friends or family walking in on them or watching them, was out in the freezing cold patrolling the city. 

Raph sat down on the edge of Casey’s bed, watching as he placed a DVD in the player for them to watch or not to watch depending on how this night went. 

Raph had been more than happy to make out with Casey wherever they were, even in front of his brothers, mostly to annoy or gross them out. But they never did in front of Master Splinter or in a room with a closed door, which was also because of Master Splinter. 

Now they had hours in Casey bedroom to do whatever they wanted and Casey was going to spend that time getting Raph more comfortable with letting Casey touch him. Raph always seemed to freeze up when their touching became more intimate and Casey wanted to push passed that and make his boyfriend comfortable with everything that could do together. 

The movie started and Casey persuaded Raph to lounge on the bed with him, his head cushioned by Casey’s soft pillows. 

Casey’s hand found Raph’s five minutes into the movie and Raph happily allowed the human boy to intertwine their fingers as much as they could given the size difference of their hands and the number of their fingers. 

Another five minutes in and Casey was trailing kisses from Raph’s neck to his shoulder and back, making the turtle squirm on the bed, obviously trying to ignore the fact Casey was kissing him and trying to focus on the movie. 

“Come on Raph.” Casey whined when his boyfriend didn’t respond to him. Rolling his eyes, Raph turned his head to the side so their faces were close together. 

“I thought we were meant to be watching a movie?”

“That’s just an excuse.” Casey said, moving forward so that he could kiss the mutant, who responded happily. Much like Raph had done before, he reached under the shirt that Casey wore to feel at his soft skin.

Feeling confident and knowing that Raph liked his chest, Casey pulled away so he could pull the shirt over his head and throw it onto the floor, leaving his entire chest exposed. Raph sucked in a breath at seeing his partner topless. He had no idea why he was so attracted to Casey’s chest and stomach, maybe it was the soft skin and how different it was to his own. 

He was also intrigued by Casey’s nipples, he understood why human women had them, as a necessity to feed their children, but on men they were pointless. At least they gave Casey’s chest a bit of colour, the skin was very pale, a show that he spent too much of his time out at night and not in the sun during the day. 

Finally taking his eyes off Casey’s chest, Raph went back to kissing the human boy, his hands roaming the exposed flesh. Casey’s hands were soon roaming Raph’s body, tugging at the elbow pads and wrist guards that he wore. 

Raph felt his heart begin to race when Casey began taking his gear off him, but he told himself he needed to be more open around Casey, otherwise they would be stuck in a rut...after all it wasn’t as if Raph  _ didn’t  _ want Casey to touch him, he’d just never done anything and didn’t know what to do. 

Casey began running his hands down Raph’s legs as his mouth moved to the green skin of the turtle’s neck, kissing and nibbling at the skin, making Raph’s eyes roll back into his head. 

The rest of Raph’s gear was gone in the next ten minutes and Casey lay only in his boxers, a tent in them, showing how turned on Casey was. As much as Raph felt the same way, he was fighting everything in him, keeping his erection hidden as well as his tail, despite how much they wanted to be free. Unfortunately a churr escaped him. 

“What was that?” Casey laughed.

“Nothing.”

“Seriously, did you just purr?” Casey asked, although looked highly amused, he was mostly curious, which helped get rid of some of the embarrassment Raph was feeling. 

“It’s called a churr.” 

“A churr?”

“Turtles making a squeaking noise when they’re...turned on...ours are just deeper...so they kinda sound like a purr, I guess?”

“Dude, that’s awesome, do it again.” 

“I...I can't control it.” Raph said, still blushing. 

“I’ll guess I’ll just have to make you then.” Casey smirked, going back to suckling on Raph’s neck and didn’t have to wait long before another churr sounded from the turtle. “Raph?”

“Hm?”

“I wanna...I wanna do more with you tonight.”

“Like what?” Raph asked, hoping his voice sounded steady and not nervous like he was feeling. 

“Whatever you feel comfortable doing, like, maybe just...touching each other? I kinda wanna know where you keep your junk.” Casey said, pulling back and looking at Raph, a completely serious look on his face. “Or we could just show each other?” Casey suggested, moving to sit up on the bed. 

“Okay…” Raph said as he too sat up.

“So, who first?” Casey asked. 

“You first.” Raph said, blushing more and hating himself for doing so. 

“You shy?” Casey teased as he stood up from the bed, enjoying the different colours appearing on his boyfriend’s face.

“Nervous.” Raph admitted. “I ain’t exactly like you.” 

“Raph, seriously dude, I’m well aware you’re a turtle and your dick’s gonna be different to mine.” Casey said, frowning slightly, he understood why Raph would be unsure about showing himself to someone, but he was Raph’s best friend and boyfriend, he shouldn’t be that worried around him. 

Without another word or thought, Casey stepped out of the final piece of clothing he was wearing, his boxers, exposing his almost fully erect penis. Raph’s eyes were wide at the sight of Casey naked and what his male anatomy looked like. 

Sitting on the edge of Casey’s bed, Raph began rubbing at the bottom of his plastron, where the shell seemed to part slightly, becoming bigger the more Raph rubbed at it. Casey watched in fascination, he’d thought Raph’s dick would be in his tail, that’s all he could find online, as well as some pictures which had almost scared Casey because of the size. 

When Raph’s erection came into view, dropping from his plastron and into his hand, Casey’s mouth dropped open. Raph’s penis was very much like a human’s, nothing like the pictures Casey had seen online. He was bigger and thicker than he was, green, obviously and lack testicles but apart from that, not a great deal different. 

“Wow.” Casey said and laughed when Raph glared at him. “So...do you not have a tail?”

“I do.” Raph said, knowing why Casey was asking him. “But it’s sensitive, so I keep it tucked away.” 

“Can I touch you?” Casey asked, having not made a move towards Raph, worried he would scare him enough to cause Raph to leave. 

“...Okay.” Raph said, his hands gripping the bed sheets either side of him as Casey neared, falling to his knees in front of Raph and placing his hands on the thick green thighs. 

“If you want me to stop just say so.” Casey said and waited for Raph to nod, before one of his hands moved up the thigh and gripped the base of Raph’s erection, causing him to gasp. When Casey started moving his hand up and down the length, Raph felt his eyes roll back into his head as it titled back, enjoying the feel of a different hand on himself. 

“Casey…” Raph moaned, his head still titled back and the black haired boy grinned, increasing the speed of his strokes and making sure to play the head of Raph’s erection. “Casey, s-stop.” Raph managed to spit out and the other stopped immediately. 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Raph panted. “Just don’t want this to be one sided.” 

“Okay…” Casey said, thinking for a moment before an idea came to him. “Lie on the bed, on your side, facing me.” Casey said, watching as Raph got into position, face reddened and out of breath...the sight made Casey bite his lip and remind himself to calm down, he didn’t want this over before it had began.

Climbing onto the bed, Casey laid down on his side, the same as Raph, until their bodies were touching. 

“W-what now?” Raph asked, cursing himself internally for stuttering. 

“I touch you...like I was doing before, and you do the same to me.” Casey explained, taking a hold of Raph’s erection.

“You done this before?” Raph asked, slight jealousy stirring up inside him, Casey must have learnt this from somewhere.

“Kinda.” Was all Raph got out of Casey before the boy began playing with the head of Raph’s penis and he no longer cared. Following Casey’s lead, Raph began running his larger hand up and down the length of his boyfriend’s erection, playing with the head like Casey had down and soon their movements were almost the same as each other, getting faster until the two were tensing up and crying each other’s names as they reached their peak. 

The two lay panting, side by side and covered in sweat and their ejaculate. After a while, the two turned to each other and grinned before sharing a deep and passionate kiss. 

“Damn, that was good.” Casey said, happy to see Raph’s face was still flushed. 

“Yeah it was.”

“And it was okay? Like, I didn’t push you into this right?”

“What? No, Casey I wanted that.” Raph said and kissed his boyfriend, hoping to get rid of his worry. 

“Okay good, because we’re totally gonna do that again.”

“Yeah...but right now I think we should get cleaned up.” Raph said, looking down at their bodies. 

“Yeah good idea.” Casey said, jumping off the bed and offering a hand to the turtle, leading him into the bathroom that was attached to his bedroom. “You know, we could do it again...in the shower?” Casey suggested and from the look on Raph’s face, he knew the answer.


	28. Smile

28\. Smile

 

Raph had managed to stay at Casey’s for a further half an hour after his boyfriend’s family came home from their movie before he had to leave, mostly because they were both worried that Casey’s dad or sister would come into the room without knocking and they would be caught and who knows what would happen. Raph was also passed his curfew and knew that Leo and Master Splinter would be waiting up for him. 

Kissing Casey one more time, he dragged himself away from his boyfriend and made his way home. Even though he had a quick wash down in Casey’s shower, he made sure that he splashed around in the sewer water to make sure he smelt like the sewer and nothing else. 

When he got in, there was nobody around and he sighed in relief. The doors to his father’s room were open, possibly so that he could see and hear when he came into the lair, but none of his brothers were up and knew that his father would not come out, he was just waiting for him to come home. 

Making his way to the bathroom, he heard his father close his doors and was happy he wouldn’t be bothered by anyone. After another quick shower, Raph got into bed, but found it hard to sleep. He was grinning as he thought about the night he had shared with Casey. He had been very nervous and unsure at first when Casey had suggested what they did but as soon as it began, Raph was glad his comfort zones had been pushed. 

He and Casey had now seen each other naked, exposed all they had left to expose to each other, although Raph had some questions about Casey’s sexual past, there was almost nothing secret between the two of them now. Raph had never felt so close to someone, not even his own brothers. 

After a while the thoughts in Raph’s head began calming down and he was able to sleep, a smile on his face.

 

-

 

Raph woke in a great mood, after a good and long sleep, he got up, donned his gear and made his way downstairs and to the kitchen for a hearty breakfast.

“Hey Raphie.” Mikey smiled as Raph walked into the kitchen, the tone of his brothers voice making him tense up but didn’t ruin his good mood.  

“What do you want?”

“Nothing…” Mikey said in the same tone of voice, dragging out the word. 

“Right...you making breakfast?” Raph asked as he began making himself a cup of coffee. 

“I’m making  _ my  _ breakfast.” Mikey said and Raph rolled his eyes but still smiled at his little brother.

“Yeah, well, wouldn’t really wanna eat anything you’re cooking anyway.” Raph said, pushing passed Mikey to get to the fridge. 

“Um, hurtful.” Mikey whined, watching as Raph picked a few items out of the fridge, bacon, sausages and eggs, all items he would be having in his breakfast. “My cooking’s getting really good.”

“Yeah, you keep believing that.” Raph said as he started cooking his own breakfast, popping some bread into the toaster.

The two were silent whilst they cooked their breakfast and set it out on the table to eat, Raph was hoping to eat his meal in silence as well, as to not ruin his mood but Mikey had been too quiet already and knew it wouldn’t be long before he’d be talking. 

“Soo...why are you in such a good mood this morning?”

"No reason.” Was Raph’s short reply. 

“Hm, yeah I don’t believe that.” Mikey said, watching Raph with narrowed eyes as he finished his food. “Oh my god! You totally had sex!” Mikey exclaimed, making Raph choke on his food and blush bright red. 

“W-what? No! Why would you think that?”

“Oh my god you totally did! You got laid! Was it awesome?” Mikey questioned his brother, who was still blushing. 

“W-what? No! Why would you-”

“Who got what now?” Donnie asked as he and Leo walked into the room.

“Raphie got laid!”

“What?” Donnie asked, a shocked expression on his face.

“Really? Already?” Was Leo’s response. 

“No! What, wait, what do you mean already?” Raph asked, eyes narrowing at Leo, but his brother didn’t have a chance to answer him back as their father walked in behind Donnie and Leo.

“Dojo. Now.” The rat sensei ordered before disappearing from the room, followed shortly after by his four embarrassed and nervous sons. Raph, being the last to come into the dojo, closed the paper doors behind him and joined his brothers, kneeling in front of their father. 

“I understand that there is something that I need to discuss with you. I thought the four of you were too young for this discussion but I know realise maybe it is long overdue.” Master Splinter started and the four cringed, knowing how embarrassing this talk was going to be. 

“You are entering into relationships, which will include sexual intercourse...if it hasn’t already.” Master Splinter, looking directly at Raphael, causing the turtle to blush and look away. “You should not feel forced into doing something that you are not ready for or don’t feel comfortable with communication is vital between partners, do you understand my sons?”

“Hai sensei.” The four replied. 

Their father soon began talking about the mechanics of sex, first between a man and a woman, which he knew the most about and then turned the topic to sex between two men, something he admitted he didn’t know much about but wanted to share the knowledge he had in case one of his son started a relationship with a man. He didn’t need to talk about that in front of everyone, Leo, Mikey and Donnie all knew that this was just for Raph’s benefit, or so Raphael thought. 

After what felt like hours of listening to their father talk about sex and relationships and every little thing that was related to both of those topics, they were dismissed from the dojo and each brother went their own way to think about what their sensei and father had talked to them about.

Leo had started to think about he and Karai and how they might be once Karai was comfortable enough to officially start a relationship between them. He had often thought about what it would be like to be in a romantic relationship which would eventually lead to a sexual one, he didn’t know if Karai’d had sex before, he didn’t really care, he just hoped that Karai would be open to a sexual relationship with him, despite the differences in their bodies. He ended that night thinking about he and Karai moving their relationship to a romantic one with hopes she would be open to having sex with him. 

As soon as Donnie got into his room, he couldn’t help but picture April in her underwear and naked. He had never seen April in less clothing than her usual casual daywear but a part of him desperately wanted to. All the talk about sex had Donnie thinking a lot about it, which he hadn’t really done much before and now his brain was going into overdrive about it. What did April’s anatomy look like? What was the difference between a mutant turtle male and a human male? Would they even be able to have sex? Was April already sexually active? Donnie found it hard to sleep that night with too many unanswered questions floating around his head. 

Mikey sat on his bed with his head in his hands thinking over what Master Splinter had said to the four of them. He was grateful for the talk as most of his sex knowledge came from porn and he knew that that wasn’t the most trustworthy thing to go by. It did also help that Master Splinter had talked about relationships and sex between two men, he knew that Raph thought that was just for him, but it was also for Mikey. Mikey went to sleep that night thinking about the person he’d recently started seeing and wondering if they were going to be the first person he would be intimate with. 

Raph’s face was still red when he got into his room, thinking about what Master Splinter had said to him and his brothers. He was super pissed at Mikey for being the reason they got dragged into a sex talk with Master Splinter, but he had gained some knowledge that he hadn’t know before which he was grateful for and after what he and Casey had done together last night, he wanted more. Raph went to sleep that night thinking about him and Casey. 


	29. Home Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Raph and Casey take their relationship another step forward...

29\. Home Alone

 

Being home alone meant that Casey could do whatever he wanted without being interrupted or questioned by a member of his family. He’d actually got around to cleaning his room and doing some washing which was well overdue. 

But now that he’d done everything on his to do list, he was bored. He had plenty of movies to watch, plenty of video games to play, but none of them interested him at the moment. 

Casey’s cell phone ringtone startled him, not expecting anyone to call him today, but looking at the caller ID, Casey grinned and answered the call. 

“Hey Raph, what’s up?”

“I just had to sit through the most embarrassing talk with Master Splinter and my bro’s.”

“Really, about what?”

“Sex.” Raph answered and Casey couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “It ain’t funny Case! It was so embarrassing, he literally sat there and explained how two men have sex, which was obviously just for me but he had to say it in front of my bro’s, seriously why couldn’t he just talk to me in private!” Raph ranted as Casey tried to control his laughter.

“Oh I wish I could have been there.” Casey said when he could talk. “Actually, no, that probably would have gone even worse, I’m surprised your dad doesn’t wanna kill me.”

“He seems okay with everything, but we’re not allowed in closed rooms with our partners...it’s like he knows what's gonna happen but he doesn’t want it to happen in the lair.”

“Yeah...seems like a pointless rule.” Casey agreed. “You busy right now?”

“Not really, why?”

“Well, I’m bored and home alone, so-”

“I’ll be there in 10.” Raph said before hanging up the phone. Casey grinned and he took the phone away from his ear to look at the screen, checking the time and setting a countdown in his head until the time Raph would be round. 

Ten minutes seemed to drag when he was waiting for someone to arrive, but eventually he heard his bedroom window open and close and made his way into the room to see his boyfriend standing from where he came him.

“Hey.” Raph grinned before taking off his mask, saving Casey the time and trouble of doing it himself.

“Hey yourself...any trouble getting out?”

“I left a note so I didn’t have to talk to anyone.” Raph said as he walked across the room to Casey, grabbing the boy by the shirt and directing him to the bed. 

“Eager?” Casey said, laughing as he was pushed onto the bed and Raph began stripping him of his clothing before taking off the rest of his own gear.

“Yeah.” Raph admitted, crawling onto Casey’s lap once the boy sat up. Raph’s kiss pushed Casey over once again and Raph straddled him, keeping him in place. But Casey wasn’t having that, he soon moved them so that they were in the opposite position. 

Leaving Raph’s mouth, he made his way down his partner’s body, kissing every part he came across until he was kneeling between Raph’s spread legs, looking at his partner’s erection. 

“Raph?”

“Hm?” Raph hummed, opening his eyes to look down at his boyfriend between his thighs. “What?”

“I wanna try something...just wanna make sure you’re okay with it.”

“Y...Yeah okay, I’ll tell ya’ if I want you to stop.” Raph said, wanting nothing more than Casey to go back to touching him. 

“Okay, good.” Casey said, moving slightly lower down his boyfriends body before licking up the underside of his cock, making Raph jerk. 

“Ah, fuck!” Raph cried out and then moaned, but didn’t say anything else so Casey continued licking Raph’s erection, moving around the length before paying attention to the head before taking him into his mouth. 

Raph moaned shamelessly at the feeling of a warm and wet mouth covering his erection, taking in as much of him as he could before pulling back up and coming back down again. As soon as Casey started using his tongue on him as he was going down, Raph thought he was going to explode and a few minutes later he did. Casey pulled away, only being able to swallow some of what Raph was offering, the rest covering Raph’s plastron. 

Covering his eyes with his arm, Raph groaned in embarrassment at how quickly he had come, even the first time he and Casey had got each other off with their hands he hadn’t come as quickly as this and that was the first time he’d ever been touched by someone else. 

“Raph? You okay?”

“Yeah, um, I’m...sorry.” Raph said, still not looking at Casey. 

“For what? Liking what I was doing?” Casey smirked and Raph moved his arm to glare at the teenager.

“Shut up.” 

Casey moved away from Raph and walked into his bathroom, returning with a towel so that he could clean Raph up.

“Don’t you want me to…?” Raph asked gesturing to the erection still bobbing between Casey’s legs. 

“Uh, you don’t have to...I can take care of myself.”

“I want to.” Raph said, getting off the bed and taking the towel from Casey. “Sit down.” He ordered as he wiped down his plastron and thighs and then discarded the towel, but kept it close enough for them to use again, if needed.

Holding Casey’s erection in his hand, he gave it a few quick pumps before placing his mouth over the tip, slowly seeing how much of Casey he could take, and only managed to go halfway down before gagging and having to come back up. 

“Raph-”

“It’s fine.” Raph said, batting Casey’s hand away when he tried to place a hand on his shoulder. He went down again, managing to take an extra inch, deciding then that was as far as he was going to go. 

Using his hand to cover what his mouth couldn’t, Raph pumped the lower half of Casey’s erection while his mouth bobbed up and down on the rest, licking the head when he came up. 

Although he had never done anything like this before, he must have been doing a decent job as Casey’s head was back with his mouth open, loud moans and other noises coming from him. 

With his other hand, he began massaging and playing with Casey’s balls, enjoying the feel and weight of them and knew what he was doing must have been adding to his pleasure as his toes curled and a hand came down onto his head. 

It didn’t take much more than a few more minutes because Casey came with a cry, the sudden rush of semen in his mouth caused Raph to pull back and cough. When he stopped coughing, he located the towel he had used and cleaned up the mess on Casey on himself, smiling at the relaxed look on Casey’s face. 

“Damn.” Casey said and laughed, moving to lay down on the bed properly, leaving space for Raph to lay down next to him. “That was good...you okay?”

“Yeah.” Raph smirked as he sat on the bed next to Casey. Casey was about to speak again when Raph’s cell vibrated. 

“Who’s that?” Casey asked as Raph picked up his phone.

“Leo, he wants to know where I am and when I’ll be back.” Raph answered as he wrote out a reply to Leo. “I told him I’m here and I’ll be back when I want.” Raph told Casey as he put the shell cell on the nightstand and got comfortable next to his boyfriend. 

“Bet he loves that.”

“Yeah well, he can stick it.”

The couple didn’t do much more than talk and lazily kiss before the sound of someone coming into the apartment told Raph it was time to go home. He received a lecture from Leo and Master Splinter and a smug look from Mikey when he returned home but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle and he would happily go through it all again to spend time with his boyfriend.


	30. Camera

30\. Camera

 

“What have you got there April?” Mikey asked when he noticed that April was carrying something into the lair. 

“A polaroid camera, my dad bought it for me.” She explained, showing Mikey the small white camera. 

“Awesome.” Mikey commented, as he looked it over, figuring out how to take a picture and turning it towards Donnie, who was sat on the couch working on his laptop. The click and whirring noise of the camera caught Donnie’s attention. 

“What are you doing?” He asked his brother. 

“Taking a picture.” Mikey answered as the camera ejected the picture. “Oh no! I think I broke it!” Mikey frowned, looking at April guiltily who laughed and took the picture from him, shaking it until it showed the picture of Donnie that Mikey had taken. 

“Oh, I’m definitely keeping this.” April said as she looked at the photo of her boyfriend, looking over at Donnie she could see that she was blushing and quickly took the camera back to get another photo. 

“April!” He exclaimed as he took the new photo from her.

“What? You look cute.” She said, loving the flushed look on him. He took the camera from April’s hands and took a photo of his girlfriend, smiling at him. 

“Well, I’m keeping this one.” 

“Come on guys, let me take a photo of both of you.” Mikey said, taking the camera and looking at them with a wide smile on his face. Donnie and April turned to each other and held each other as Mikey took two pictures of them, one for April and one for Donnie.

“Oh you guys look so cute!” Mikey said as he passed them the pictures. “April take one of me, no take two!” Mikey said, throwing the camera at April, who just about caught it, as Mikey got into a pose.

Taking two photos, April shook them and handed them to Mikey, who took one but handed the other back. 

“You should totally make an album and put photos of all of us in it!”

“That’s actually a really good idea.” Donnie said. “It doesn’t just have to be of us, it could be a memory album.” 

April agreed that was a good idea and made a mental note to buy a photo album and some more Polaroids for the camera, knowing she would go through most of them tonight, getting photos of the whole Hamato clan as everyone was here. 

She spent the next hour gathering the turtles onto the couch to take various pictures of the family and some of Casey, she even got a couple of candid pictures of Raph and Casey together and one that they actually knew was being taken. 

They both took a picture a keep, after yelling at her for taking the pictures without their permission, but April knew they weren’t really angry and just embarrassed, which she found adorable. 

The only people in the lair April had yet to get photos of were Master Splinter and Karai...

“What are you doing?” Karai asked the red head, having been watching her for the last ten minutes take pictures of everyone in the lair. 

“My dad got me this camera and I thought I could get photos of everyone for an album.” April said, turning the camera on Karai and taking a shot of the kunoichi glaring at her. “And now I have one of everyone, apart from Master Splinter and a group photo.”

“Good luck with that.” Karai smirked, wrapping her arms around herself as she looked across the room the the four turtles and Casey sat around the couch. Leo was sat at the edge of the couch, fully entranced on the television, no doubt watching Space Heroes or one of the other similar programmes that he was obsessed with.  

“Give me that.” Karai said, walking closer to Leo and snapping a picture before he could realise what she was doing. When the picture came out and cleared, Karai smiled, causing the subject of the photo to blush and walk over to her to see what he looked like in the picture. 

“That’s an awful picture of me.” Leo said, looking slight flustered. 

“Well I like it.” Karai grinned and passed the camera to Leo. “You can take one of me if you want.” She offered and Leo took the camera, wanting desperately to have a photo of Karai, well one that she was happy for someone to take, most of the photos of Karai were taken without her permission or when she was in a ‘mood’ so her expression was always sour.  

Leo took the photo and shook it until the picture cleared and Leo smiled at it, Karai looked happy and more relaxed than he had ever seen her, dressed in a baggy black jumper and leggings, casual wear she had only just become comfortable wearing around the others. A bright smile was on her pale lips, the red lipstick gone and the rest of her make up toned down to a natural look. Leo did like the makeup that she usually wore but knew it was just a mask and was happy she was able to remove it. 

“Now that’s a bad photo.” Karai commented once it cleared and Leo laughed, passing the camera back to it’s owner who quickly snapped a picture of the two of them laughing. 

“ _ O’Neil. _ ” Karai said, looking over at the girl, trying to intimidate her. 

“Oh please, let me take a few more.” She said and Karai sighed and rolled her eyes, allowing April to take a few more photos of her and Leo and some of her on her own. 

By the end of the evening April had used every Polaroid in her camera and was more than certain all these photos would fill up a small photo album. She knew she would be using a camera a lot and maybe she would need more than one photo album...and a lot more Polaroids. 

 


	31. Eighteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set in November. It's Casey's 18th Birthday, which he spends with friends before he can spend some time with Raph.

31\. Eighteen

 

With November came Casey Jones’ birthday and this year it was a big one, eighteen years old. Some friends and hockey team mates had made plans for Casey’s birthday, taking him out somewhere they could get him drinks without having to worry about getting ID’d.

Casey really wanted nothing more than to spend his birthday with his boyfriend and his family, they were the people he was closest to, even more than his own family. But these guys wouldn’t take no for an answer and Casey sent Raph an apology text, promising that they would spend some time together to celebrate his birthday soon. 

Raph hadn’t minded, he saw Casey more than they did anyway and wanted his boyfriend to enjoy actually going out for his birthday. 

It was two days after his birthday that he got a text from Casey, saying that he was free tonight and was dying to bust some heads. Less than fifteen minutes later the two met on one of their preferred rooftops, Raph greeting his boyfriend with a passionate kiss. 

“Damn, maybe we should stay apart more often if that's how you greet me after.”

“Shut up.” Raph said as he hit Casey’s shoulder, smiling as he did so. “You wanna patrol or just go to a hot spot?” Raph said, referencing some areas of the city they knew crime would always be happening. 

“I ain’t waiting around for the dirt bags.” Casey said with a grin before racing off to the west, Raph following him, knowing where he was going. 

There was a certain area that had been taken over by purple dragons recently and there were always some out on the streets stealing from people or business and the two hoped that they would come across some crime in action to stop.

Not to their surprise, there was a group of five dragons picking on a young man who seemed to be on his way home from work. The only thing they had managed to do was grab the man’s briefcase before the two were on them, knocking the five out with practised ease, although making sure the dragons thought they had a chance, just to make things seem interesting.  

“Damn, we’re good.” Casey said as he looked around at the unconscious men around their feet. 

“Where to next?” Raph asked and Casey thought for a second, as much as he enjoyed their fight and would be more than happy to go and beat up some other lowlifes, he wanted nothing more than to just spend time alone with Raph.

“Come back to mine.” 

“Isn’t your dad home?” Raph asked with a raised brow. 

“He’s out drinking, my sister’s round a friends...it’ll just be the two of us.” Casey said, grinning and winking. He didn’t have to say anything else before Raph pulled Casey in the direction of the boy’s home.

They fell into Casey’s room once they got the window open, making sure to close it behind them so that the room stayed warm. 

The two collapsed onto the bed, Raph’s hands pulling at Casey’s shirt, pulling it off the boy, exposing his chest and Casey pulled the red fabric away from Raph’s eyes. They didn’t bother removing any more of their clothes, they both knew they weren’t going to do more tonight than make out and maybe some light touching as well.

Moving away from Casey’s mouth, Raph started kissing Casey’s neck and his throat, biting at his adam’s apple, enjoying the way it bobbed underneath his teeth. Casey’s eyes rolled back into his head, the feeling of painful pleasure surging through his body and settling in his groin, which he thrust up to meet Raph’s.

Casey soon managed to get Raph’s mouth back up to his own, one hand holding the back of Raph’s neck so that he couldn’t move back to Casey’s neck, as much as he enjoyed Raph’s mouth doing wonderful things to his neck, he was worried about his partner leaving marks which would be embarrassing to explain. 

“Hello? Is anyone home?” A woman’s voice called out and the two teenagers froze. 

“Who’s that?” Raph whispered, not recognising the woman’s voice.

“My mom.”

“Your mom?”

“Yeah, shit...I had no idea she was coming home.” Casey said as he moved away from Raph to pick his shirt up from the floor and put it on. 

“I guess I better go…”

“Sorry Raph…” Casey frowned. “I swear I didn’t know she would be coming home, I thought we’d be alone.”

“It’s okay Casey, but you owe me one!” Raph said and Casey pulled him in for one last kiss before Raph put his mask on and disappeared out the window. 

“Mom?” Casey called out once the window was shut behind his boyfriend and made his way out into the hallway and to the living room. 

“Oh, Casey!” His mom said once her son came into sight, throwing her arms around him to hug her son. “You look so thin, have you eaten dinner?” 

“Um, no, but-”

“Come on, you can help me make something.” She said, walking into the kitchen before Casey could say anything else. 

With an audible sigh, Casey followed his mom into the kitchen so they could make dinner together. He was glad to see his mom and happy that she was home for however long it was going to be this time, even if it meant he now had to sneak around another person if he wanted to spend some time alone with his boyfriend. 


	32. Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set in December. April and Casey get sick.

32\. Sick

 

They were barely a week into December and both April and Casey had been taken down with the flu and could barely move from their beds, which made not only themselves miserable, but their partners as well. 

Donnie had been spending a couple of hours every night around April’s, bringing her soup and looking after her. It had also caused Mr. O’Neil to ask if there was something more between Donnie and April than just being friends, which had led to them telling him about their relationship.

Kirby had approved of their relationship, happy that April was with someone who truly cared about her and who would do anything to look after her, he already had in the past. 

Of course now it meant that Kirby also wanted April’s door open wide at all times Donnie was round, even though April barely wanted to be touched at this time, so there was no need for concern. April was getting slightly tired of overprotective dads but she was very grateful to have Donnie here with her, looking after her and providing her with company where she would have been alone. 

Trying to visit Casey when he was sick was much harder for Raph. Since his mom had come home, she’d nearly always been home and from what Raph could make out from the texts Casey had been sending him, which was mostly misspelled and half words as Casey didn’t really have the energy to text, was that she had been watching him and looking after him almost every second of the day. 

After three days of not seeing his boyfriend, he finally got a text saying that Casey’s mom had gone out to get groceries and would be gone for at least an hour.

Raph wasted no time getting round to Casey’s apartment. Coming through the open window and seeing his boyfriend, laying on his bed, barely covered by his bed sheets. 

“You look like shit.” Raph commented. 

“Fuck off.” Casey laughed.

“Seriously though, do you feel any better?”

“We’ll I’m not coughing my lungs up anymore, but still feel like lead.” Casey moaned and although he felt bad for his boyfriend, Raph couldn’t help but smile. Walking across the room, Raph made his way to Casey’s bed and sat on the edge, close to the dark haired boy.

“Ugh, Raph, stay away man I’m gonna get ya’ sick.” Casey moaned but Raph didn’t move, he only rolled his eyes.

“Stop whining, I ain’t gonna get sick, I got a strong immune system.” 

“Don’t mean you ain’t gonna get sick.”

“I don’t care.” Raph said and Casey gave him a dopey smile. “Shut up.”

“Aw, you miss me man?”

“I guess I’ve just got used to seeing your ugly mug everyday that it feels weird not to.” Raph said and laughed when Casey attempted to hit him. 

“Come on man, I’m ill, you’re meant to be nice to me.” He moaned and Raph smiled as he leaned over Casey and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. 

“Just like you to go and get ill when you owe me one.”

“Hey! I didn’t get ill on purpose!”

“Bet ya’ didn’t get a flu shot when you coulda?” Raph grinned and Casey rolled his eyes before groaned at the pain that caused him. 

“April didn’t either.”

“Yeah, because her mind was on her exams and she’d been busy studying.” Raph replied, playfully annoying his boyfriend. 

“Hey, you’re meant to be being nice to me, I’m ill!” Casey whined and Raph laughed, moving so that he was laying down on the bed, leaving just a small space between the two. 

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned that.” 

“Mom’s freaking out, I’m surprised she’s left me alone, even if it is just to get food.” 

“She’s just worried about you, it’s nice that she wants to make sure you’re okay.” Raph replied, interested in hearing about Casey’s mother. 

“Yeah, I guess she’s making up for all the times she’d never around when I’m sick.”

“How come she ain’t around much?”

“Her job, it takes her all over the world, she comes back when she can but it’s usually not for more than a week or two, maybe not even that.” Raph wanted to ask more, but held himself back, he didn’t want to annoy Casey and then never get the chance to learn more because Casey wasn't comfortable talking about it, he would tell him more when he was ready to. 

“Sounds tiring.”

“Yeah, guess so.” Casey sighed and sat up slowly. “You been up to much?”

“Not really...patrolling with my bro’s is kinda boring compared to being out with you.”

“Probably a lot better than being stuck in bed all the time.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Raph chuckled. “At least you get some time off school.”

“Thank fuck.” Casey said. “I can’t wait to graduate and never have to go back there again.”

“School can’t be that bad.”

“It is but what makes it worse is the people there.” Casey whined. “Only another six months and I’m out of there.”

“You thinking about going to college?” Raph asked, feeling slightly worried if Casey were to answer yes, if Casey attended college outside of the city he wouldn’t be able to see him unless he came back for breaks, he didn’t know if he would be able to handle that. 

“Not really, it’s not like I’ll have the grades.”

“I thought April was helping you get your grades up.”

“She is, but she ain’t a miracle worker.”

“Your grades aren’t that bad.” Raph said, rolling his eyes. 

“Yeah...whatever…” Casey said, trailing away from the conversation, not really wanting to talk as he throat was starting to get sore again. 

“You wanted something to eat? Drink?” Raph asked. 

“My mom’ll be back soon and make me dinner, but...could you get me some water?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Raph replied, leaving the room to go to the kitchen and get his partner a glass of water to help soothe his throat and hydrate him. He’d only just made it back into the bedroom when he heard the front door of the apartment open. 

“Casey.” Raph said as he placed the glass down on the nightstand, trying to catch the attention of the boy who had started to doze off. 

“Hm, what’s wrong?”

“Your mom’s back, I gotta go...your water’s on the nightstand.”

“What? Oh, damn, I thought we would have more time.” Casey said, suddenly fully awake. 

“It’s okay, I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay...thanks Raph.” Casey said, smiling at his boyfriend as he disappeared out the window, closing it behind him, seconds before his mom walked into the room and began fussing over him. 

 

-

 

Karai was lounging in her room, sat up on her bed with her laptop in her lap, watching a television programme she had been meaning to watch for a while now. Although the regularly passing figure by her door was causing her to become distracted and slightly irritated. 

“What do you want Leo?” Karai sighed, after the fifth time Leo had walked past her open door. 

“Hm? What?” Leo said as he once again came into her vision. “Nothing, I was just passing by.”

“Really?” She asked, closing her laptop and moving off her bed to walk over to her door. “You don’t have to lie to me Leo, why are you watching me?”

“I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.” Leo said, blushing slightly, which Karai found to be cuter than it should be. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“With April and Casey being sick, I just worried that you might get the flu as well.” Leo admitted honestly. 

“Leo, I’m fine, unlike them I actually got my flu shot this year.” 

“Really, when?”

“I don’t have to tell you everything that I do Leo.” Karai said and Leo’s eyes went wide, realising how he must have sounded. 

“I didn’t mean that! I-I just meant I didn’t notice you leave the lair to get a flu shot.” Leo stuttered through his response and Karai couldn’t help but smile, it was almost too easy to make him flustered and nervous. 

“Leo, calm down,” Karai laughed, “It’s cute that you care about me.” She said and cupped Leo’s face between her hands and kissed him quickly. “Do you want to watch something on Netflix with me?”

“Yes please.” Leo answered, almost hypnotised after what Karai had done to him, the expression on his face causing Karai to laugh as he walked into her room to watch television with her. 


End file.
